Pacifastacus leniusculus and Austropotamobius torrentium prefer different substrates
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Abstract
The North American crayfish Pacifastacus leniusculus has recently been found in Switzerland. It had been introduced into several European countries before and was shown to locally displace native crayfish species. In Switzerland, P. leniusculus is likely to invade waters inhabited by the endangered native crayfish Austropotamobius torrentium. In order to investigate their habitat requirements we compared the substrate preference of each species alone and tested for possible shifts in substrate use in the presence of the other species. There was a clear difference in substrate choice between species, with A. torrentium preferring pebbles and P. leniusculus preferring mud. Neither species altered its substrate selection in the presence of the other. These findings suggest that there will be some habitat segregation between P. leniusculus and A. torrentium in sympatry. P. leniusculus used in the experiment were infected with the crayfish plague, Aphanomyces astaci, to which they are resistant. They transmitted the disease to non-resistant A. torrentium which died 10 to 20 days after they had contacted P. leniusculus in the experiment.
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Vorburger C and Ribi G. (1999). Pacifastacus leniusculus and Austropotamobius torrentium prefer different substrates. Freshwater Crayfish 12(1):696-704. doi:
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