Comparative Life Histories of Two Populations of the Introduced Crayfish Orconectes Rusticus (Girard, 1852) in Ontario

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Comparative Life Histories of Two Populations of the Introduced Crayfish Orconectes Rusticus (Girard, 1852) in Ontario COMPARATIVE LIFE HISTORIES OF TWO POPULATIONS OF THE INTRODUCED CRAYFISH ORCONECTES RUSTICUS (GIRARD, 1852) IN ONTARIO BY SUSAN COREY Department of Zoology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 2W1 Canada RÉSUMÉ En dehors de la fécondité, il n'y a pas de différences majeures entre les populations d'Orconectes rusticus (Girard, 1852) vivant dans les rivières et dans les lacs. De petites différences ont été notées en ce qui concerne la répartition par âge et l'entrée des jeunes-de-l'année dans les popula- tions. Le type général du cycle biologique d'O. rusticusest le même que celui des autres écrevisses du genre Orconectes. Des différences dans la taille, la fécondité, l'époque d'entrée des jeunes-de-l'année dans les populations entre O. rusticuset O. propinquus(Girard, 1852) dans la rivière Eramosa expliquent comment O. rusticus, en compétition avec O. propinquus,exclut ce dernier dans certains secteurs de la même rivière. IN'I'R()DUCTION Crayfish are among the most energetically important benthic freshwater invertebrates feeding on animal, plant and detritus and, in turn, are prey for many fish, birds and mammals. There are 300 or more species and subspecies of crayfish of which the life histories are known for only a few. These life histories, in the majority of studies, are based on one location and one popula- tion and are summarized and compared by Momot (1984). Although Orconectes rusticus (Girard, 1852) is endemic to the midwestern United States and has been introduced into many localities, the only life history aspects available are some generalized observations by Langlois (1935) in Ohio fish ponds and discussions of spring breeding by Berrill & Arsenault (1982). During the past several years, 0. rusticus has been introduced into many freshwater lakes and rivers in Ontario and the northern United States where it has or is replacing the endemic species, O. propinquus (Girard, 1852) or O. vt*rz*lz*s(Hagen, 1870) (Crocker & Barr, 1968; Berrill, 1978; Capelli, 1982; Jezerinac, 1982). Recently, 0. rusticus has been reported from Berford Lake, Bruce Peninsula and the Eramosa River near Guelph (Corey & Buckland, unpublished data). In the latter location, 0. propinquus is becoming extinct. The present study determines and compares the life histories of two dif- ferent, introduced populations of 0. rusticus; a lake population where it is the 30 only species of crayfish occurring and a river population which is actively out- competing 0. propinquus. The life history strategies will be compared between 0. rusticus and 0. propinquus (cf. Corey, 1987, 1988) from the Eramosa River, near Guelph, Canada, based on populations in different localities where only one of these two species occurs. This is part of an ongoing study of crustacean reproductive strategies and the competitive exclusion of 0. propinquus by 0. rusticus in the Eramosa River. MATERIALS AND METHODS Specimens of 0. rusticus were collected in 1983, 1984 and 1985 from the Eramosa River (43 °42' 50 "N 80° 10' 10 "W) and Berford Lake (44°45' 10 "N 81 °25' 30 "W) in Ontario, Canada. Collections commenced in late April-early May and continued throughout the summer and fall, ceasing in September or October depending on the locality (figs. 1, 2). Most samples consisted of at least 100 animals. Each specimen was sexed and placed into immature, mature non-ovigerous females, ovigerous females, male I (mature) and Male II (immature) stages. Carapace lengths ( ± 0.5 mm) measured from the base of the eye socket to the posterior edge of the carapace were recorded. Length/fre- quency histograms were drawn and the mean of each cohort was calculated for growth studies. The Harding (1949) method was used to separate overlapping cohorts. The number and the development stage of eggs were recorded for each ovigerous female. ANOVA's for the number of eggs versus carapace length were done for each population and then statistically compared (p = .05) adjusting for the covariant carapace length. RESULTS Oviposition occurred in both populations early April when the water temperatures were;;:: 5°C. The smallest ovigerous females were 13.9 and 15.4 mm (carapace length) in the Berford Lake and Eramosa River populations, respectively. Ovigerous females constituted 9.1 to 24.1 % (Eramosa) and 14.5 to 31. 7 % (Berford) of the entire population (table I). Of the mature females, 48.0 to 83.9 % and 66.7 to 90.5 % were ovigerous in the Eramosa and Berford populations, respectively. Over 50 % of the ovigerous females in both popula- tions were year class II, 10.0 to 37.5% were year class III, and 0 to 20% were year class I (figs. 1, 2, table II). Very few females, and only in the Berford population, survived and became ovigerous in the fourth year (fig. 2). Fecundity here is def"ined as the number of early abdominal eggs (within the first week of oviposition) per female. A positive relationship of increased fecun- dity with increased size of female occurred in both populations (table III). The fecundity of the Berford Lake females is significantly (p = .05) greater (with egg number adjusted for carapace length) than that of the Eramosa females. .
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