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Native European crayfish Astacus astacus competitive in staged confrontation with the invasive crayfish Faxonius limosus and Procambarus acutus.

ABSTRACT: The European native, noble crayfish (Astacus astacus) has suffered from a serious and long term population decline due to habitat destruction, water pollution and the impact of the invasive North American crayfish that are carriers of the crayfish plague (Aphanomyces astaci). The latter being the major factor currently confining noble crayfish to uninvaded (parts of) waterbodies. However, recently wild populations of apparently healthy noble crayfish carrying the crayfish plague have been found. As crayfish are known for their inter- and intraspecific agonistic behaviour which may be key for their competitive success, this raised the interesting question what would happen if the crayfish plague would not be a dominant factor anymore in the interaction between native and invasive species. Since the outcome of those encounters is still unclear, this study explores whether the noble crayfish can stand its ground towards invasive species in such agonistic interactions. Furthermore, the ability of the noble crayfish and invasive crayfish to acquire shelter through agonistic interaction is also assessed. Through pairwise staged interactions, agonistic behaviour and shelter competition between the native A. astacus and the invasive Faxonius limosus and Procambarus acutus were examined. The results showed that A. astacus triumphs over F. limosus and P. acutus in agonistic encounters and in competition for shelter. In turn, P. acutus dominates F. limosus in staged encounters and shelter. In possible future situations were crayfish plague does no longer eradicate noble crayfish populations, our results show that the native noble crayfish might still have a promising future when confronted with invasive species.

SUBMITTER: Roessink I

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8794086 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundThe noble crayfish (Astacus astacus) displays a complex historical and contemporary genetic status in Europe. The species divergence has been shaped by geological events (i.e. Pleistocene glaciations) and humanly induced impacts (i.e. translocations, pollution, etc.) on its populations due to species commercial value and its niche degradation. Until now, limited genetic information has been procured for the Balkan area and especially for the southernmost distribution of this species (i.e. Greece). It is well known that the rich habitat diversity of the Balkan Peninsula offers suitable conditions for genetically diversified populations. Thus, the present manuscript revisits the phylogenetic relationships of the noble crayfish in Europe and identifies the genetic make-up and the biogeographical patterns of the species in its southern range limit.ResultsMitochondrial markers (i.e. COI and 16S) were used in order to elucidate the genetic structure and diversity of the noble crayfish in Europe. Two of the six European haplotypic lineages, were found exclusively in Greece. These two lineages exhibited greater haplotypic richness when compared with the rest four (of "Central European" origin) while they showed high genetic diversity. Divergence time analysis identified that the majority of this divergence was captured through Pleistocene, suggesting a southern glacial refugium (Greece, southern Balkans). Furthermore, six microsatellite markers were used in order to define the factors affecting the genetic structure and demographic history of the species in Greece. The population structure analysis revealed six to nine genetic clusters and eight putative genetic barriers. Evidence of bottleneck effects in the last ~5000 years (due to climatic and geological events and human activities) is also afforded. Findings from several other research fields (e.g. life sciences, geology or even archaeology) have been utilized to perceive the genetic make-up of the noble crayfish.ConclusionsThe southernmost part of Balkans has played a major role as a glacial refugium for A. astacus. Such refugia have served as centres of expansion to northern regions. Recent history of the noble crayfish in southern Balkans reveals the influence of environmental (climate, geology and/or topology) and anthropogenic factors.

Project description:The red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii is a highly adaptable, tolerant, and fecund freshwater crayfish that inhabits a wide range of aquatic environments. It is an important crustacean model organism that is used in many research fields, including animal behavior, environmental stress and toxicity, and studies of viral infection. Despite its widespread use, knowledge of the crayfish genome is very limited and insufficient for meaningful research. This is the use of next-generation sequencing techniques to analyze the crayfish transcriptome. A total of 324.97 million raw reads of 100 base pairs were generated, and a total of 88,463 transcripts were assembled de novo using Trinity software, producing 55,278 non-redundant transcripts. Comparison of digital gene expression between four different tissues revealed differentially expressed genes, in which more overexpressed genes were found in the hepatopancreas than in other tissues, and more underexpressed genes were found in the testis and the ovary than in other tissues. Gene ontology (GO) and KEGG enrichment analysis of differentially expressed genes revealed that metabolite- and immune-related pathway genes were enriched in the hepatopancreas, and DNA replication-related pathway genes were enriched in the ovary and the testis, which is consistent with the important role of the hepatopancreas in metabolism, immunity, and the stress response, and with that of the ovary and the testis in reproduction. It was also found that 14 vitellogenin transcripts were highly expressed specifically in the hepatopancreas, and 6 transcripts were highly expressed specifically in the ovary, but no vitellogenin transcripts were highly expressed in both the hepatopancreas and the ovary. These results provide new insight into the role of vitellogenin in crustaceans. In addition, 243,764 SNP sites and 43,205 microsatellite sequences were identified in the sequencing data. We believe that our results provide an important genome resource for the crayfish.

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Native European crayfish Astacus astacus competitive in staged confrontation with the invasive crayfish Faxonius limosus and Procambarus acutus.

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