Artificial water points for wildlife management facilitate the spread of red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii)
The red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) has been widely introduced into aquatic systems all around the world, triggering multiple impacts. In Doñana Natural Area, Abalario and the Biological Reserve of Doñana, Spain (one of the most important biodiversity reserves in Europe), the red swamp cray...
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2014 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) |
| Repositorio: | DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:dnet:digitalcsic_::618860be26b324227a59d4744819f9a0 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/107938 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Pond Special protection area Habitat management Engineering |
| Sumario: | The red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) has been widely introduced into aquatic systems all around the world, triggering multiple impacts. In Doñana Natural Area, Abalario and the Biological Reserve of Doñana, Spain (one of the most important biodiversity reserves in Europe), the red swamp crayfish was first introduced in 1974 and expanded its range quickly through marsh habitat, but distributed more slowly throughout scrubland ponds. Water persistence, salinity, and substrate can condition the presence of the species in the wild. Before the creation of the Natural Area and the Biological Reserve of Doñana, farmers dug artificial water points in some scrubland ponds to provide water throughout the year for livestock. Once declared a protected area, managers assumed control of the maintenance of the park and opened new water points as a wildlife management tool. The aim of the study presented here was to determine the environmental conditions that favor the spread of crayfish in the temporal ponds of Doñana and whether the occurrence of water points increases the spread of crayfish. For this purpose, we sampled crayfish using a sweep net in 60 randomly selected ponds in two different areas of Doñana. Crayfish occurrence was significantly related to the presence of seasonal streams connecting the ponds with refuge areas and to the presence of artificial water points within the pond. The probability of occurrence of red swamp crayfish in a pond without seasonal streams was more than 5 times lower than that in a pond with seasonal streams. The probability of crayfish occurrence in ponds without artificial water points was 2.5 times lower than that in ponds with artificial water points. We review the advantages and disadvantages of water points as a management tool |
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