Editorial: Conservation of European Freshwater Crayfish
Freshwater ecosystem functioning is often thought to be dominated by fish, determining the community structure via top-down control and ecosystem engineering. However, freshwater crayfish can have an even stronger effect on food web and ecosystem functioning, operating as keystone species in a water...
| Autores: | , , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2021 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) |
| Repositorio: | DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:digital.csic.es:10261/267287 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/267287 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | crayfish ecology invasive species management Disease control Aquaculture Conservation restocking |
| Sumario: | Freshwater ecosystem functioning is often thought to be dominated by fish, determining the community structure via top-down control and ecosystem engineering. However, freshwater crayfish can have an even stronger effect on food web and ecosystem functioning, operating as keystone species in a water body (Longshaw and Stebbing, 2016). As environmental engineers, crayfish have a significant impact on the biodiversity within their habitat (Souty-Grosset et al., 2006). Yet over the past 150 years freshwater crayfish in Europe have faced a novel challenge in the form of a lethal disease caused by the oomycete Aphanomyces astaci Schikora 1906, introduced by alien crayfish species of North American origin. Today, the European native crayfish population trends are in decline nearing extinction in several cases (Souty-Grosset et al., 2006; Jussila et al., 2014). The introduction of different A. astaci strains in Europe and the repeated introductions of their North American host species are a classic example of a man-made ecological disaster (Jussila et al.), stemming from the naive belief that the manipulation of an ecosystem would be straightforward. The alien crayfish species, which were supposed to replace the eradicated native stocks, not only transfer the deadly disease but in many parts of Europe also outcompete their native crayfish counterparts, because they are more aggressive giving them additional advantage regarding habitat competition in addition to higher fecundity (Alonso and Martínez, 2006). Introductions of new alien crayfish stocks and thus new A. astaci strains will inevitably lead to the total eradication of the remaining native European crayfish stocks. In this Research Topic we collected scientific work on crayfish conservation from multiple scales, ranging from molecular to species and ecosystem levels, to address the consequences of invasive crayfish and host-parasite interactions on European freshwater biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, aiding conservation and management of European freshwater crayfish to prevent them from extinction. |
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