2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH
6/06/2017 | 2:30 PM - 2:45 PM | CRAYFISH CONNECTIONS: LINKING ECOLOGY AND HYDROGEOLOGY IN ALABAMA’S BLACK BELT PRAIRIE USING BURROWING CRAYFISH SITE PREFERENCE | 305A
CRAYFISH CONNECTIONS: LINKING ECOLOGY AND HYDROGEOLOGY IN ALABAMA’S BLACK BELT PRAIRIE USING BURROWING CRAYFISH SITE PREFERENCE
A unique group of invertebrates with adaptations for burrowing into benthic and terrestrial habitats, crayfish provide a vital link to the health of aquatic and terrestrial environments. Because of sampling difficulty and small sample size, one faction of the crayfish community that remains underrepresented is primary burrowing crayfish, which spend most of their lives in subterranean burrows far from surface water. I am using field surveys to determine what combination of environmental variables influence burrowing crayfish site selection most significantly in a Black Belt Prairie watershed: soil characteristics, ground cover, floodplain connectivity or groundwater characteristics. I am also assessing peak crayfish activity periods by using motion triggered photography to determine what may serve as an environmental cue to cause crayfish to exit their burrows most frequently: air temperature, rainfall amount or photoperiod. Following the identification of preferred burrowing sites and peak activity periods, I will develop an occupancy model for burrowing crayfish in the Black Belt Prairie region of Alabama. This research will help guide a watershed management plan for similar stream systems that will benefit both aquatic and terrestrial communities.
- C03 Invertebrates
- C14 Hydroecology
- S12 Challenges, insights, and opportunities in crayfish conservation and ecology
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Presenters/Authors
Rebecca Bearden
(), University of Alabama, rabearden@crimson.ua.edu;
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
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Nonfinancial -