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Predictions of marbled crayfish establishment in conurbations fulfilled: Evidences from the Czech Republic

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Abstract

The marbled crayfish (Procambarus fallax f. virginalis) has become one of the potentially most dangerous non-indigenous crayfish species spreading in European countries and elsewhere. This taxon reproduces parthenogenetically and recently has been verified as a vector of the crayfish plague pathogen. Here, we report on two established populations of marbled crayfish in the Czech Republic. The marbled crayfish was observed during autumn 2015 in an urban pond connected by sewer piping with the Rokytka brook near its mouth to the Vltava River in Prague. Subsequently, three adult females, two of them having well-developed glair glands and oocytes, were captured in this pond during spring 2016, suggesting successful overwintering of the local population. Furthermore, four adult females were captured in an artificial pond at the Radovesická lignite spoil heap in the vicinity to the industrial conurbation of Bílina in summer 2016; one of them carried eggs. We tested these for the presence of the crayfish plague pathogen Aphanomyces astaci, with negative results. The introduction pathway for both populations is most likely a release from private aquaria, as these sites are popular for recreation activities. Our findings substantiate previous predictions that conurbations are likely to be the primary areas for marbled crayfish introductions.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Marie Lupoměská (Town District Prague 9) for permission to survey the urban pond, Jakub Friedl for reporting on the presence of crayfish in the Přátelství Park, to Filip Tichánek for various information on the Radovesická spoil heap, and to Zuzana Musilová for help with sampling at the Radovesická spoil heap. Denis Copilaş-Ciocianu, Nuria Viñuela Rodríguez and Agata Mrugała helped with laboratory analyses. The study was financially supported by the project “CIGA” (No. 20152007), the Czech Science Foundation (P504/12/2525), the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic - projects CENAKVA (No. CZ.1.05/2.1.00/01.0024) and CENAKVA II (No. LO1205 under the NPU I program), and the University of South Bohemia (GAJU 158/2016/P). English was proofread by Gale A. Kirking at English Editorial Services.

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  1. Department of Zoology and Fisheries, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, CZ-16500, Praha 6, Czech Republic

    Jiří Patoka, Miloslav Petrtýl & Lukáš Kalous

  2. Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, South Bohemian Research Center of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of Hydrocenoses, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Zátiší 728/II, CZ-38925, Vodňany, Czech Republic

    Miloš Buřič, Martin Bláha, Pavel Franta & Antonín Kouba

  3. Institute of Entomology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Science, Branišovská 31, CZ-37005, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

    Vojtěch Kolář & Robert Tropek

  4. Department of Ecosystem, Biology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 1760, CZ-37005, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

    Vojtěch Kolář

  5. Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná 7, CZ-12844, Praha, Czech Republic

    Robert Tropek & Adam Petrusek

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  1. Jiří Patoka
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Patoka, J., Buřič, M., Kolář, V. et al. Predictions of marbled crayfish establishment in conurbations fulfilled: Evidences from the Czech Republic. Biologia 71, 1380–1385 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1515/biolog-2016-0164

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