Efecte del flux d'aigua en el metabolisme del cranc americà (Procambarus clarkii) i les seves aplicacions en la gestió i reducció de les poblacions en rius i rieres

Abstract

The red swamp crayfish, Procambarus clarkii, is a species of the family of cambàrids. Since its introduction the distribution and the population have increased thanks to the great invasive potential and the anthropogenic impact until being catalogued as an invasive specie by the administration. To improve the ecological knowledge of P. clarkii it has been studied the effect of different water flows on crayfish metabolism, specifically the standard metabolic rate (SMR), the maximum metabolic rate (MMR) and the aerobic scope (AS), the morphological traits to differentiate males from females and they could influence metabolic rates and the causes of this. The technique of capture used to obtained the crayfish was fish trap, afterwards they were translated to the aquarium room and after their adaptation in aquariums they were taken to the laboratory. In the laboratory was determinate the oxygen consume (SMR, MMR and AS) in a experimental way through a swimming tunnel coupled to an intermittent-flow respirometre. The morphological traits were determined by ImagineJ program, which analyzed the images taken of each individual. The results has been observed that there were no significant differences between males and females in lineal relation to SMR, MMR and AS, and that there is a relationship between MMR and the total length and the body mass of the crayfish as to AS was only lineal relation to the total length and for SMR was not lineal relation with total length and body mass. Respect to the variance of the morphological traits that determinate the traits to identify and difference males to females are the right cheliped length, the abdomen width and the digestive system weight. In regard, the different morphological traits do not manifest any correlation with the physiological traits. The study of the effect of the different water flows in the metabolism determinate that the metabolism rate is increases when the flow speed increases. This has ecological implications that are relevant for the management and reduction populations of P. clarkii because the increase of the water’s speed and the presence of barriers in our rivers and streams can avoid crayfish dispersion. Finally, the principal causes of the variation in SMR were the eviscerted weight (musculature and exoskeleton) and the total length and for MMR it was the total weight and the total length