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Comparison of Phenotypic Traits and Fitness for Three Populations of Austropotamobius Torrentium (Schrank, 1803)

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Comparison of Phenotypic Traits and Fitness for Three Populations of Austropotamobius Torrentium (Schrank, 1803) BIHAREAN BIOLOGIST 11 (2): 71-78 ©Biharean Biologist, Oradea, Romania, 2017 Article No.: e171204 http://biozoojournals.ro/bihbiol/index.html Comparison of phenotypic traits and fitness for three populations of Austropotamobius torrentium (Schrank, 1803) Marius-Ioan GROZA* and Vioara MIREȘAN Department of Fundamental Sciences and Biotechnologies, Faculty of Zootechnics and Biotechnologies, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania. *Corresponding author, M.I. Groza, e-mail: [email protected] Received: 10. February 2017 / Accepted: 14. June 2017 / Available online: 17. June 2017 / Printed: December 2017 Abstract. Changes in environment induce adaptive variation in phenotypic traits of individuals. Therefore, isolated populations can be accurately defined by specific divergent characteristics. Using morphometric measurements and individual weight we assessed body fitness and specific features for three geographically isolated populations of Austropotamobius torrentium in Romania. All populations had a good ecological condition with specific differences between sexes. Also, small differences occur between the condition of the populations probably, due to specific habitat features. We found significant differences between chelae and cephalothorax size in relation to total length of individuals for all three populations. These differences were seemingly correlated with altitude, water velocity and shelter stability. In-habitat distribution of individuals is linked to their size. Larger individuals occupy the most stable shelters all across the studied sections. Also, higher water flows were populated mostly by the largest individuals, probably due to their adaptability to higher currents. The present study contributes to the knowledge on ecological fitness, morphometric variation and in-situ scattering of A. torrentium. This is an important step in evaluation of conservation measures needed for the protection of the previous mentioned species in Romania. Key words: crayfish, cephalothorax, shelter stability, water velocity, altitude. Introduction spreading from the underground pools that sheltered indi- viduals from the cold during the Pleistocene (Pârvulescu et Long term isolation between populations leads to divergent al. 2013) and being later limited by the interaction with traits in individuals that occur as optimum favorable adapta- Astacus astacus and water quality (Pârvulescu & Zaharia tion to changes in environment (Dugas et al. 2015). Thus, 2013, Pârvulescu et al. 2013, Pârvulescu & Zaharia 2014). phenotypic traits in animals tend to vary with differences in Pârvulescu et al. (2013) also found the species to be almost habitat features (e.g., Li & Denny 2004, Bower & Piller 2015, completely isolated by the other 3 species of crayfish present Lighten et al. 2016, Schalk 2016), occurring in some cases here (Astacus astacus, Astacus leptodactylus and Orconectes even before genome modifications (Imre et al. 2002, Aubret limosus) and divided into two geographically distinct meta- et al. 2004, Scoville & Pfrender 2010). Thereby, earlier varia- populations. tion in shape and morphometry can occur due to stress re- Various studies on morphometry of A. torrentium were lated pressure (West-Eberhard 2003, Badyaev 2005). Various published in the past (e.g. Streissl & Hödl 2002a, Maguire & studies observed changes determined by shifts in environ- Klobucar 2011, Vlach & Valdmanova 2015), but information mental conditions (Swain & Foote 1999, Lighten et al. 2016) dealing with the Romanian populations are scarce. Thus, our or the presence of predators (van Buskirk &Schmidt 2000, goal was to assess and compare the ecological conditions of Auld & Relyea 2011, Schalk 2016). Consistent to this phe- 3 different populations of A. torrentium and to evaluate mor- nomenon, crayfish also express phenotypic plasticity related phometric changes and in-situ distribution of individuals to its environment (e.g., Griffith et al. 1996, Sint et al. 2005, driven by habitat features. We expected to find important Sint et al. 2007, Haddaway et al. 2012, Perry et al. 2013, differences in morphometry and fitness of individuals as a Helms et al. 2015, Dakić & Maguire 2016). result of their long term geographical isolation. Additionally, Occurrence of stone crayfish (Austropotamobius torren- we also assumed a positive influence of habitat characteris- tium) in Europe is strongly related to high water quality tics in phenotypic traits expression. (e.g.,Vlach et al. 2009, Pârvulescu et al. 2011, Svobodová et al. 2012, Pârvulescu & Zaharia 2013) and low anthropogenic influence (Füreder et al. 2006). Small distance movement of Materials and methods individuals due to a more sedentary behavior (Kadlecová et Habitats al. 2012) narrows its range further, making the species more We chose three different streams (Fig. 1) for our study: Valea Satului, susceptible to habitat alteration and risk from invasive spe- Aninoasa and Valea Aușoarelor located in three different hydro- cies (Dyer et al. 2013). Furthermore, added influence of habi- graphical basins (Tab. 1). Minimum distance between locations is tat features and predation seem to affect in situ distribution more than 120 km. For each stream we chose a 1 km section, 500 met- and density within populations (Vlach et al. 2012). All these ters away from the nearest village. We chose upstream segments of factors lead to a patchy distribution of the species (Kouba et the streams which were not affected by human industrial activities. al. 2014) imposed by physical barriers, human activity and In every segment we inspected for shelters and examined the interior of each shelter by hand. When a crayfish was found, we noted GPS habitat degradation (Pârvulescu et al. 2016). An uneven dis- coordinates, altitude, substrate type in the surrounding area of the persal is also observed in Romania, where A.torrentium oc- shelter, water velocity near the entrance of the shelter and the maxi- curs only in the karstic regions of the Western Carpathians mum water velocity across the stream, along the same line with the (Pârvulescu 2009, Pârvulescu et al. 2013, Pârvulescu & Za- shelter. GPS coordinates and altitude were measured using an Etrex haria 2013). This scattering seems to be the result of former 30 unit from Garmin (Garmin, Garmin Ltd., Lenexa, Kansas, United 72 M.I. Groza et al. Table 1. Habitat characteristics (Alt: altitude; Subs: substrate; SGP - sand, gravel, pebbles; water velocities: mean water velocity, maximum water velocity and gallery mean water velocity; LS-low stability, MS-medium stability, HS-high stability). Water velocities % of observed occupied shelters Stream Alt. (m) Subs Mean (SE) Max G Mean (SE) LS MS HS Aninoasa 732-790 SGP 35.4(2.2) 61.1 16.8(2.9) 14.29 47.62 38.09 Valea Aușoarelor 350-486 SGP 28.4(2.9) 61.1 7.6(2.5) 16.67 20 63.33 Valea Satului 142-334 SGP 12.6(1.8) 30.0 3.1(0.9) 11.54 53.85 34.61 healthy, individuals with missing or regenerated chelae were not considered. Only data regarding the left chela was examined due to high similarity between both chelae in crayfish (Maguire & Dakic 2011). We used log-linear regression to calculate the correlation be- tween total length and weight for males, females and both sexes for each population. We used the exponent’s (b) value to evaluate growth isometry and students t-test (ts=(b-3)/Sb; b-slope, Sb- standard error of b) function to evaluate the significance of the result (Datta et al. 2013). For a better evaluation and comparison between populations condition, we also calculated Fulton’s Condition Factor (FCF). For this we used the formula: FCF=Wwx100/L3, where Ww is the wet weight of the animal in grams and L is the total length of the animal in cm (Streissl & Hödl 2002a). For comparison between FCF’s index of populations and sexes we used One-way ANOVA test. Spearman was used to test correlation between morphometric fea- tures, sex of the crayfish and different characteristics of the habitats. To find differences between males and females within the same Figure 1. Map with the GPS coordinates from the middle of the population we used Mann-Whitney U test. Kruskal-Wallis test was stream segment used to compare the features among habitats. States). Substrate type was visually approximated in order to create a Results substrate coarseness ranking score, according to Gibson et al. (1998). We recorded the presence of a variety of boulders, large areas with a combination of sand, gravel and pebble and small patches with silt Population’s fitness and clay. We only considered sand, gravel and pebble as substrate There are differences in allometry of individuals. Length- for our analysis as they constitute more than 95% of the stream bot- weight relationship equation showed a positive allometric tom in the shelter proximity (an area of 1 squared meter). For meas- growth (b>3) in all males and isometric growth (b=3) in all urements of the water velocity we used a JDC Flowatch flowmeter females. Overall, we observed an isometric growth in Ani- (JDC Electronic SA, Waadt, Switzerland). Using these measurements, noasa and Valea Aușoarelor populations and an allometric we calculated the mean of the maximum speed values in the river. growth for the population from Valea Satului. There is a We also determined the ratio between water velocity near the en- trance of the shelter and the maximum water velocity across the strong correlation between weight and length of all the indi- stream for each individual for a better understanding of crayfish viduals (Spearman, r>0.981, p<0.001). More than 90% of the preference towards water speeds near their refuge. Shelter stability variation in weight is explained by the variation in length for was also recorded in 3 different categories: low stability (LS), me- all specimens, independent of location. Fulton’s condition dium stability (MS) and high stability (HS) (according to Pârvulescu factor (FCF) differs significantly between sexes in all locali- et al. 2016). Thus, macrophytes, sand and gravel were considered as ties (ANOVA, all p<0.021), with the larger index belonging LS, smaller unstable rocks, tree roots and shallow galleries were con- to the males (Tab.
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