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Project properties |
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| Title | Invasive freshwater crayfish research |
| Group | Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group |
| Project type | thesis |
| Credits | variable |
| Supervisor(s) | Ivo Roessink (WENR), Edwin Peeters (AEW) |
| Examiner(s) | Edwin Peeters |
| Contact info | Edwin Peeters 0317-483899 , Edwin.Peeters@wur.nl
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| Begin date | 2015/01/05 |
| End date | 2024/12/31 |
| Description | Imported for restaurants, private ponds, or benefiting from the recent connection between Rhine and Danube river basins exotic crayfish are still establishing themselves in Dutch surface waters today. The latest inventory states that in The Netherlands now 8 species of freshwater crayfish are present of which the native species Astacus astacus only survives in one single isolated location. Without competition and able to utilize a broader range of habitats, the new species disperse quickly and we are only just beginning to understand their impact on the Dutch aquatic community.
But still many questions remain: Do they really impact biodiversity and if so how severe is that impact?, do they impact aquatic vegetation?, are they susceptible to sediment-bound pollutants?, are all species equally sensitive to pollution and/or toxicants?, how to they compete between and within species for food and shelter?, how far and when do they migrate? Can populations be managed by natural predators? When choosing this thesis students will find answers to these questions using information available in the literature combined with experiments. The experiments will be carried out in the laboratory at Alterra or at the experimental field station ‘De Sinderhoeve’ in Renkum, The Netherlands. |
| Used skills | |
| Requirements | Both BSc or MSc students who are curious, independent and not afraid of test subjects that can fight back….. |