Microhabitat use by foraging white-clawed crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes) in stream pools in the NE Iberian Peninsula
The white-clawed crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes) is an endangered species across most of its distribution range, and information on its ecological requirements is needed to implement effective conser- vation measures. Its habitat use has been studied in different areas and at various spatial scale...
| Autores: | , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2009 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) |
| Repositorio: | DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:digital.csic.es:10261/45644 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/45644 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Freshwater crayfish Microhabitat selection Substrate Nocturnal microhabitat Iberian Peninsula |
| Sumario: | The white-clawed crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes) is an endangered species across most of its distribution range, and information on its ecological requirements is needed to implement effective conser- vation measures. Its habitat use has been studied in different areas and at various spatial scales. However, being a nocturnal species, there is scarce information on its habitat selection during foraging periods. In this work we analyse nocturnal habitat use of white-clawed crayfish in pools of a small stream in the northeastern Iberian Peninsula at two different scales: (1) microhab- itat selection and (2) pool characteristics. Large crayfish showed a clear positive selection for deeper microhabi- tats, a selection pattern that was weaker for medium- sized crayfish and absent for small ones. On the other hand, crayfish of all sizes avoided cobble and boulder microhabitats and positively selected fine substrate and more exposed microhabitats. Crayfish abundance in pools was positively influenced by pool area, pool depth and the availability of fine substrates, especially silt. While studies on white-clawed crayfish habitat use have often stressed the importance of rough substrates as crayfish refuge, our results show that fine substrates are positively selected by foraging crayfish of all size classes and promoted active crayfish abundance in pools. These apparently contradictory results may be due to the dif- ferences in microhabitat preferences exhibited by active and inactive crayfish. Thus, our results help to better complete the picture of white-clawed crayfish habitat requirements |
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