Abstract
AbstractClimate change and invasive species are among the biggest threats to global biodiversity and ecosystem function. Although the individual impacts of climate change and invasive species are commonly assessed, we know far less about how a changing climate may impact invading species. Increases in water temperature due to climate change are likely to alter the thermal regime of UK rivers, and this in turn may influence the performance of invasive species such as signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus), which are known to have deleterious impacts on native ecosystems. We evaluate the relationship between water temperature and two key performance traits in signal crayfish—feeding and burrowing rate—using thermal experiments on wild‐caught individuals in a laboratory environment. Although water temperature was found to have no significant influence on burrowing rate, it did have a strong effect on feeding rate. Using the thermal performance curve for feeding rate, we evaluate how the thermal suitability of three UK rivers for signal crayfish may change as a result of future warming. We find that warming rivers may increase the amount of time that signal crayfish can achieve high feeding rate levels. These results suggest that elevated river water temperatures as a result of climate change may promote higher signal crayfish performance in the future, further exacerbating the ecological impact of this invasive species.
Highlights
Climate change and invasive species are global threats to biodiversity and ecosystem function (Bellard, Cassey, & Blackburn, 2016; WWF, 2020)
We found that the proportion of water temperature values within the thermal performance breadth (Tbr) for feeding rate increased in all three rivers under the warming scenarios (Figures 5 and S2)
Our results suggest that river warming will not alter burrowing activity in a predictable way, suggesting that crayfish-induced sediment transport from this activity will not increase under future climate change and that effects of signal crayfish on physical and biotic dimensions of river systems may become decoupled under future temperature change
Summary
Climate change and invasive species are global threats to biodiversity and ecosystem function (Bellard, Cassey, & Blackburn, 2016; WWF, 2020). Invasive species can alter food webs, outcompete natives and engineer ecosystems in ways that disrupt the provision of ecosystem services (Gallardo, Clavero, Sánchez, & Vilà, 2016; Pyšek et al, 2020). Climate change may raise organisms' body temperatures, altering activity times, ecological performance and evolutionary fitness (Peñuelas et al, 2013). Threats of climate change and invasive species are commonly assessed, the effect of climate change on the invaders themselves remains relatively unexplored This is despite the potential of warming to increase key ecological rates, potentially accelerating invaders' spread and exacerbating their impacts (Hulme, 2017)
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