The role of abiotic and biotic cues in burrow habitat selection by juvenile crayfish

Clay, Mallary; Stoeckel, Jim; Helms, Brian S.

doi:10.1163/1568539x-00003463

Cited by 9 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 73 publications

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“…nov. are released and spend a period time in open water habitats before emerging to dig their first burrows in the banks or floodplain, which is a dispersal strategy that may contribute to the wide range of L. dalyae sp. nov. and other Lacunicambarus species (Helms et al, 2013;Clay et al, 2017;Glon et al, 2018). Based on their length-frequency histograms, Miller et al, 2014 suggested that the minimum lifespan of this species is 4 years.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Lacunicambarus dalyae: a new species of burrowing crayfish (Decapoda: Cambaridae) from the southeastern United States

Glon

Williams

Loughman

2019

Zootaxa

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The Jewel Mudbug, Lacunicambarus dalyae sp. nov., is a large, colorful primary burrowing crayfish found in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee. This species is most similar in appearance to the Paintedhand Mudbug, L. polychromatus, a species found across the Midwestern United States. The ranges of the two species overlap minimally, and they can be distinguished from each other based on several characters, the most notable of which is the much longer central projection of the gonopod in Form I and II males of L. dalyae sp. nov. relative to L. polychromatus. Like its congeners, L. dalyae sp. nov. is commonly found in burrows in the banks and floodplains of streams and is resilient to a moderate amount of anthropogenic habitat degradation, being occasionally collected from burrows in roadside ditches and urban lawns.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Adults of burrowing crayfish species like L. dalyae sp. nov. often live in clustered colonies (Clay et al, 2017), but multiple burrowing crayfish species may also live in close proximity to one another in partially or completely overlapping colonies. For instance, we have collected C. gentryi Hobbs, 1970 andC.…”

Section: Updated Key To Lacunicambarusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lacunicambarus dalyae: a new species of burrowing crayfish (Decapoda: Cambaridae) from the southeastern United States

Glon

Williams

Loughman

2019

Zootaxa

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“…Resultant of their reclusive lifestyle, our understanding of burrowing crayfish activity patterns and behavior is minimal, with much of the work on these species being derived from in situ natural history observations [12,[25][26][27][28][29] and not systematic investigations. However, despite these difficulties, semi-naturalistic mesocosms and custom-built observation chambers have been useful in the study of burrowing crayfish behavior [30][31][32][33][34].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the surface or down below: Field observations reveal a high degree of surface activity in a burrowing crayfish, the Little Brown Mudbug (Lacunicambarus thomai)

et al. 2022

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Opposed to most crayfish species that inhabit permanent bodies of water, a unique burrowing lifestyle has evolved several times throughout the crayfish phylogeny. Burrowing crayfish are considered to be semi-terrestrial, as they burrow to the groundwater—creating complex burrows that occasionally reach 3 m in depth. Because burrowing crayfishes spend most of their lives within their burrow, we lack a basic understanding of the behavior and natural history of these species. However, recent work suggests that burrowing crayfishes may exhibit a higher level of surface activity than previously thought. In the current study, we conducted a behavioral study of the Little Brown Mudbug, Lacunicambarus thomai using video surveillance to determine their degree of surface activity and behavioral patterns. Throughout 664 hrs of footage, we observed a surprisingly high amount of activity at the surface of their burrows—both during the day and night. The percentage of time that individual crayfish was observed at the surface ranged from 21% to 69% per individual, with an average of 42.48% of the time spent at the surface across all crayfish. Additionally, we created an ethogram based on six observed behaviors and found that each behavior had a strong circadian effect. For example, we only observed a single observation of foraging on vegetation during the day, whereas 270 observations of this behavior were documented at night. Overall, our results suggest that burrowing crayfishes may exhibit higher levels of surface activity than previously thought. To increase our understanding of burrowing crayfish behaviors ecology, we encourage the continued use of video-recorded observations in the field and the laboratory.

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Burrowing activity of Procambarus clarkii on levees: analysing behaviour and burrow structure

Haubrock

Inghilesi

Mazza

et al. 2019

Wetlands Ecol Manage

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The North American crayfish Procambarus clarkii is considered among the most invasive freshwater species. However, burrowing behaviour and the possible impact of P. clarkii on levees have not yet been studied in depth. To assess shape, volume and structure of its burrows and the associated behaviour, experiments were conducted introducing two sizematched adult crayfish into an artificial setup and video-recording their behaviour for 96 h. At the end of each replicate, casts of excavated burrows made with polyethylene foam were retrieved. Crayfish (n = 40) dug 17 burrows, six of which having an enlarged terminal chamber. The average excavated levee volume of burrows was 1.9% (0.00528 m 3 ; 5.0256 l) ± 0.86% of the total volume with a maximum of 4% (0.0109 m 3 ; 10.9 l) and the chambers (mean volume of 0.9 ± 0.6 dm 3) contributed to up to 50% of the excavated volume. No significant difference between sexes was found for any observed behaviour. Our study also demonstrated how P. clarkii female and male behaviours are similar for burrowing activity. As a result, we quantify the potential pressure exerted by the red swamp crayfish on levees and lastly highlight the observation of cooperating burrowing behaviour of male and female individuals in this species.

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The role of abiotic and biotic cues in burrow habitat selection by juvenile crayfish

Cited by 9 publications

References 73 publications

Lacunicambarus dalyae: a new species of burrowing crayfish (Decapoda: Cambaridae) from the southeastern United States

Lacunicambarus dalyae: a new species of burrowing crayfish (Decapoda: Cambaridae) from the southeastern United States

On the surface or down below: Field observations reveal a high degree of surface activity in a burrowing crayfish, the Little Brown Mudbug (Lacunicambarus thomai)

Burrowing activity of Procambarus clarkii on levees: analysing behaviour and burrow structure

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