Development of PVC Dispensers for Long-Lasting Release of Attractants for the Control of Invasive Crayfish Populations

Abstract

Invasive alien species (IAS) are considered one of the major threats to biodiversity worldwide, thus requiring severe control strategies. Based on the promising results obtained in the field of insect pest management with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) for long-lasting release of attractants, the main aim of this study was to ascertain the efficacy of PVC/attractant dispensers also in the aquatic environment. Therefore, we developed PVC/food dispensers and evaluated their attractiveness, by means of behavioural bioassays on whole animals, over a 60-day period of continuous use towards the red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii, one of the top 100 worst IAS. The attractiveness in PVC of trehalose, leucine and taurocholic acid was also tested. Our results show that the PVC dispensers release the food and are strongly attractive for crayfish over a prolonged time, even if their effectiveness depends on the storage conditions: From 18 days when stored underwater at 23 • C up to 50 days when stored out of the water at −20 • C. Besides, trehalose, leucine and taurocholic acid in PVC resulted in reliable attractants for P. clarkii. The development of PVC dispensers for long-lasting release of attractants may help improve the efficiency of mass trapping strategies in the management and control of invasive crayfish.

The success in the short-distance communication for mating does not depend on chemical signals in the crustacean decapod Procambarus clarkii (Girard, 1852)

“…At present, we cannot ascertain if this may represent an advantageous reproductive strategy for this crayfish, but we anticipate that it could represent a way to facilitate and optimise mating for a high yield. Therefore, together with the considerable ecological plasticity, resistance, aggressiveness and bioturbation ability, this reproductive feature may increase the high invasive potential of P. clarkii for freshwater habitats worldwide (Gherardi, 2006;Salvadori et al, 2014, Souty-Grosset et al, 2016Palmas et al, 2019). For these reasons, this species is now listed among the "100 of the worst" invasive species by the "Delivering Alien Invasive Species Inventories for Europe" project (DAISIE, 2009), thus requiring severe population control strategies (Manfrin et al, 2019).…”

“…Like other decapod crustaceans, crayfish rely on waterborne chemical signals to produce appropriate behavioural responses, such as spatial orientation, social communication, predator avoidance, identification of suitable habitats, location of food resources and sex recognition (Breithaupt and Eger, 2002;Grasso and Basil, 2002;Bergman and Moore, 2005;Aquiloni et al, 2009;Berry and Breithaupt, 2010;Breithaupt, 2011;Schmidt and Mellon, 2011;Solari et al, 2015Solari et al, , 2017Solari et al, , 2018. Discrimination of different stimuli is mediated by peripheral chemoreceptors grouped within sensory hairs called sensilla, which are typically located on the cuticles of cephalothoracic appendages like antennae, maxillipeds (mouthparts) and especially antennules and pereiopods (major claws and walking legs) (Schmidt and Mellon, 2011).…”

Blue-Green Algae as Stimulating and Attractive Feeding Substrates for a Mediterranean Commercial Sea Urchin Species, Paracentrotus lividus

“…Animals were starved for 48 h preceding the experiments. The microalgae were supplied to the animals using the polyvinyl chloride (PVC) dispenser technique [54]. The dispensers were prepared by coating a rigid plastic rod (8 cm long × 0.5 cm wide) with a mixture containing the finely hashed powder of the microalgae suspended in PVC (code 389293, Sigma-Aldrich, Milan, Italy).…”

A method for selective stimulation of leg chemoreceptors in whole crustaceans

“…Trehalose, maltose and cellobiose (Sigma-Aldrich, Milan, Italy), which are disaccharides commonly known to elicit responses from the leg CRNs of P. clarkii (Corotto and O'Brien, 2002;Solari et al, 2015Solari et al, , 2018, were used as stimuli. They were dissolved in tap water at 10 −1 mol l −1 , frozen and stored as stock solutions.…”