Across Trophic Level System Simulation (ATLSS) - Crayfish

Project Summaries Publication

The purpose of this project is to examine how crayfish species respond to proposed hydrologic management in the Florida Everglades. This project will construct a spatially explicit, stage-structured population model for two species of procambarid crayfishes, the Everglades crayfish (Procambarus alleni) and the slough crayfish (P. fallax), building on up to 18 years of crayfish population data available from Drs. Joel Trexler and William Loftus. This model will provide a mechanism to estimate pre-drainage distributions of crayfish by coupling it to the natural systems model. Moreover, alternative hydrologic management scenarios may be compared to each other and with pre-drainage crayfish model outputs to evaluate the efficacy of proposed hydromanagement scenarios. Because white ibises (Eudocimus albus) forage primarily on crayfish while nesting, the availability of crayfish has obvious implications for recovering populations of this species. The crayfish model will allow managers to evaluate restoration alternatives, and examine how these alternatives may be compared to pre-drainage estimates of crayfish community composition.

Project Summaries

• 2002, 2003 (Everglades Crayfish (Procambarus Spp.) Response to Hydrologic Restoration of the Florida Everglades)

Publication

Abstract:

• The Role of Aquatic Refuges in the Rockland Wetland Complex of South Florida in Relation to System Restoration (from the GEER Conference, December 2000)

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