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The Status of the Kisatchie Painted Crayfish (Faxonius Maletae) in Louisiana

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The Status of the Kisatchie Painted Crayfish (Faxonius Maletae) in Louisiana University of Texas at Tyler Scholar Works at UT Tyler Biology Theses Biology Spring 3-22-2019 The tS atus of the Kisatchie Painted Crayfish (Faxonius maletae) in Louisiana Jade L.M. McCarley Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uttyler.edu/biology_grad Part of the Biology Commons Recommended Citation McCarley, Jade L.M., "The tS atus of the Kisatchie Painted Crayfish (Faxonius maletae) in Louisiana" (2019). Biology Theses. Paper 58. http://hdl.handle.net/10950/1317 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Biology at Scholar Works at UT Tyler. It has been accepted for inclusion in Biology Theses by an authorized administrator of Scholar Works at UT Tyler. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE STATUS OF THE KISATCHIE PAINTED CRAYFISH (FAXONIUS MALETAE) IN LOUISIANA by JADE L. M. MCCARLEY A thesis submitted in the partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Biology Department of Biology Lance R. Williams, Ph.D., Committee Chair College of Arts and Sciences The University of Texas at Tyler May 2019 © Copyright Jade L. M. McCarley 2019 All rights reserved ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to acknowledge Dr. Bob Wagner, Quantitative Ecological Services (QES), Jody Patterson, Sarah Pearce, and the staff at Fort Polk for all of their support throughout this project. I am sincerely grateful for my advisor, Lance Williams for this opportunity. He has guided me through graduate school and has inspired me to continue as a scientist. Thank you, Marsha Williams for your dedication to field sampling and especially for welcoming me into your family while at UT. Thank you, Josh Banta, for lending your genetic guidance, educating me on Rad-Seq, and for being patient with me throughout the project. Thank you, John Placyk for your assistance with DNA extraction processes and phylogenetic analyses. Thank you, Kate Hertweck for all of the coding assistance and guidance during data analysis. Thank you to Brent Bill for providing guidance when called upon. From the bottom of my heart, I would like to extend the utmost thanks to my technicians Tyler Grabski and Ivy Sudduth for enduring the elements and always being reliable company during sampling and lab work. I would also like to extend my gratitude to Rachel Quintanilla and Katy Lunceford for their assistance in the field. Thanks to fellow graduate students Matt Wolkov, Bridget Fitzgerald, and Nevada King for supporting me during the rigor of graduate school. I would like to personally thank my mother Shawn McCarley, brother Steven Holland, and fiancé Kyle Mason for their constant support during my research conquest while away from home. Without you three, I would not possess the drive and dedication I needed to complete my Master’s Degree in Biology. A large amount of team work made this research possible. I will forever be grateful and thankful for this experience. TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures…………………………......……………………………………………...iii List of Tables.…………………………………………………………………………….iv Abstract………………………………………………………………...…………………iii Chapter One: Introduction….…………………………………………..…………………1 Classification……………………………...……………………………………….2 Reproduction and Mating Behavior……………………………………………….2 Historical Presence in Texas………………………………………………………3 Historical Presence in Louisiana…………………………………………………..4 Chapter Two: Materials and Methods…………………………………...………………..6 Study Area………………………………………………………………………...6 Field Survey Methods……………………………………………………………11 Species Morphology and Identification…………………………………….……13 Population Dynamics……………………………………………………….……14 DNA Extraction and Quantification……………………………………………..15 Restriction Site Associated DNA Sequencing……………………………..….…16 Phylogenetic Analyses (Maximum Likelihood Approach)……………………...17 Phylogenetic Analyses (Bayesian Clustering Approach)………………………..19 Phylogenetic Analyses (AMOVA)………………………………………………20 Chapter Three: Results…………………………………………………...………………21 Population Dynamics…………………………………………………………….21 i Restriction Site Associated DNA Sequencing……………………………….…..23 Phylogenetic Analyses (Maximum Likelihood Approach)…...…………………24 Phylogenetic Analyses (Bayesian Clustering Approach)………………………..26 Phylogenetic Analyses (AMOVA)…………………………………………...….27 Chapter Four: Discussion……….……………………………………….……………….28 References………………………………………………………………………….…….33 Appendix A………………………………………………………………………………42 ii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Historical sampling locations for the Kisatchie Painted Crayfish, Faxonius maletae, in Texas………………………………………………………………...………..7 Figure 2. Texas and Louisiana historical sites sampled for the Kisatchie Painted Crayfish (Faxonius maletae)………………………………………………………………………..8 Figure 3. Map of Fort Polk near Leesville, Louisiana that indicates the boundaries of both Fort Polk and the Peason Ridge Training Area (PRTA)………………………………….9 Figure 4. Map showing the tributaries found within the Peason Ridge Training Area (PRTA) located in the Red River Drainage basin of Louisiana...........………………......10 Figure 5. Pictures of Kisatchie Painted Crayfish, Faxonius maletae, indicating coloration patterns…………………………………………………………………………………...14 Figure 6. Map of sites where Kisatchie Painted Crayfish, Faxonius maletae, were collected in Texas and Louisiana for this project….…………………………...………..21 Figure 7. Length (mm)-weight (g) relationship for Kisatchie Painted Crayfish, Faxonius maletae……………………………………………………………...……………………22 Figure 8. Size class distribution for Kisatchie Painted Crayfish, Faxonius maletae….…23 Figure 9. Maximum likelihood phylogeny with proportional branch lengths for Faxonius maletae...…………………………………………………………………………………25 Figure 10. STRUCTURE plot results indicating inferred ancestry between Texas and Louisiana subpopulations of Faxonius maletae (K=1)…………………………………..26 iii LIST OF TABLES Table 1 AMOVA results among populations, individuals within populations, and within individuals for Texas and Louisiana subpopulations of Faxonius maletae (average over 41 loci)……………………………………………….…………………………………..27 Table 2 Texas historical sites for Faxonius maletae sampled in 2017—2018…………..42 Table 3 Louisiana historical sites for Faxonius maletae sampled in 2017—2018………43 Table 4 Sites sampled for Faxonius maletae on Fort Polk military base in Leesville, LA in 2017—2018………………………………………………………………...…………44 Table 5 Average Maximum Log Likelihood values provided from STRUCTURE for each Faxonius maletae individual.…………………………………………………………….44 iv ABSTRACT THE STATUS OF THE KISATCHIE PAINTED CRAYFISH (FAXONIUS MALETAE) IN LOUISIANA Jade L. M. McCarley Thesis Chair: Lance R. Williams, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Tyler May 2019 The Kisatchie Painted Crayfish, Faxonius maletae, are considered to be imperiled and potentially endangered in Texas and Louisiana. There are two known subpopulations, and previous work suggested these subpopulations may be highly genetically differentiated and therefore deserving of different subspecies or species status. Upon field sampling and performing DNA extractions, Restricted Site Associated DNA Sequencing (RAD-Seq) was performed based on Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) to assess genetic variability between Texas and Louisiana subpopulations. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the two subpopulations are not genetically differentiated from one another. Population genetic analyses further supported that the species are not genetically differentiated from one another (P=0.49, FST = 0.10). The results presented here suggest that the two subpopulations are still exchanging alleles with one another and are not separate species or subspecies. Faxonius maletae is declining indicating the importance for conservation status in Texas and Louisiana. v CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION Crayfish serve as keystone species in aquatic habitats and conservation efforts should focus on them as indicators for habitat quality (Crandall 2007). Approximately 48% of freshwater crayfish species are considered vulnerable, threatened, or endangered (Taylor et al. 2007). The Kisatchie Painted Crayfish (Faxonius maletae) are primarily stream dwellers (Penn 1952). They have been collected in small to moderately sized streams with bottoms composed of white sand or gravel that exhibit clear water. They have also been documented in large rivers with bottoms that are composed of mud that have extremely silty water (Walls 1985). Habitat characteristics such as water depth have been shown to influence the length of F. maletae. Those that occur in deep water have been documented to reach 101.6 mm and those that occur in shallow water rarely reach lengths over 50.8 mm long (Walls 2005). Both the Texas and Louisiana subpopulations occupy areas that have these habitat characteristics, however Texas habitats were more stagnant, muddy, and foul-scented than those in Louisiana. Faxonius maletae is listed as a species of special concern by the Louisiana Natural Heritage Program. Faxonius maletae was also included in a 2010 petition for listing of 404 species under the Endangered Species Act. It is listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as data deficient, and it is exhibiting a decreasing population trend (Adams et al. 2010). It has a Global Heritage Ranking of G2, or imperiled, in the Kisatchie Bayou of Louisiana because of population declines (Taylor et al. 2007); however, since there are little or no data on the ecology or population genetics of this species, its listing under the Endangered Species Act has been delayed. 1 Faxonius maletae has been an elusive species to study and little is known
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