Zoogeography, taxonomy, and conservation of West Virginia’s Ohio River floodplain crayfishes (Decapoda, Cambaridae)

Abstract

The crayfish fauna of West Virginia consists of 23 species and several undescribed taxa. Most survey efforts documenting this fauna have been conducted in lotic waterways throughout the Appalachian plateau, Allegheny Mountains, and Ridge and Valley physiographic provinces. Bottomland forests, swamps, and marshes associated with large river floodplain such as the Ohio River floodplain historically have been under-surveyed in the state. These habitats harbor the richest primary burrowing crayfish fauna in West Virginia, and are worthy of survey efforts. In an effort to fill this void, the crayfish fauna of West Virginia’s Ohio River floodplain was surveyed from 2004 through 2009. From this survey, nine species from four genera were documented inhabiting the floodplain. Zoogeography, biology, and conservation status is provided for all nine crayfishes. The dominant genus along the floodplain is Cambarus, which includes Cambarus (Cambarus) carinirostris, Cambarus (Cambarus) bartonii cavatus, Cambarus (Procambarus) robustus and Cambarus (Tubericambarus) thomai. Cambarus (Tubericambarus) thomai is the most prevalent burrowing species occurring along the floodplain. The genus Orconectes consists of two native species, Orconectes (Cambarus) obscurus and Orconectes (Cambarus) sanbornii; and two invasive taxa, Orconectes (Gremicambarus) virilis and Orconectes (Procambarus) rusticus. Orconectes (Cambarus) obscurus has experienced a range extension to the south and occupies streams formerly occupied by Orconectes (Cambarus) sanbornii. Both invasive taxa were allied with anthropogenic habitats and disturbance gradients. The genera Fallicambarus and Procambarus are represented by a single species. Both Fallicambarus (Cambarus) fodiens and Procambarus (Orconectes) acutus are limited to the historic preglacial Marietta River Valley.

Physical habitat and water quality correlates of crayfish distributions in a mined watershed

“…Although five of the seven species were found in 1st-order stream sites, C. b. cavatus was the only species found commonly at these sites. Cambarus b. cavatus burrows extensively in 1st-order streams (Jezerinac et al, 1995;Taylor & Schuster, 2005;Loughman & Simon, 2011). Possibly, the ability for C. b. cavatus to burrow allows this species to create refuge habitat at sites with lesser physical habitat quality.…”

“…In effect, this result could be interpreted as both species requiring the same ecological requirements. While true to an extent, both species utilize different stream macrohabitats (Loughman & Welsh, 2010;Loughman & Simon, 2011), and have different life history strategies (Loughman & Simon, 2011). Understanding the interaction among modeling results and crayfish ecological function will lead to the elucidation of key interspecific habitat parameters dictating the creation of native crayfish assemblages, something that currently is poorly understood for North American crayfish.…”

Occupancy rates of primary burrowing crayfish in natural and disturbed large river bottomlands

“…Imperilment of crayfish faunas has led to increased conservation efforts (Taylor et al, 2007;Welsh et al, 2010), including research on distributions and population status of crayfish within the eastern United States (Thoma and Jezerinac, 2000;Simon, 2001;Taylor and Schuster, 2004;Kilian et al, 2010;Loughman and Welsh, 2010;Simmons and Fraley, 2010;Skelton, 2010;Loughman and Simon, 2011). Most research efforts, however, have focused on secondary and tertiary burrowing crayfish species, which are closely associated with stream habitats.…”

“…This lack of information results in part from the arduous, time-intensive nature of primary burrowing crayfish collection (Hobbs, 1981;Loughman and Simon, 2011). Despite difficulties with the collection of crayfish, sampling efforts are needed to determine landscapelevel habitat associations of primary burrowing crayfish to aid in the successful conservation of species.…”

“…Primary burrowers are known to occur in habitats ranging from pristine old growth mesophytic forests (Jezerinac et al, 1995;, bottomland forests (Hobbs, 1981;Taylor and Schuster, 2004;Loughman and Simon, 2011), and pitcher plant bogs (Johnston and Figiel, 1997), to altered habitats such as roadside ditches (Hobbs, 1981;Taylor and Shuster, 2004;Loughman and Simon, 2011) and residential yards (Hobbs, 1981;Taylor and Shuster, 2004;. Habitat associations may also differ among burrowing crayfish species owing to soil type (Page, 1985;Hobbs and Robison, 1989;Hobbs and Jass, 1988).…”