South, J. orcid.org/0000-0002-6339-4225, Stubbington, O., Kaiser-Reichel, A. et al. (8 more authors) (2025) Rapid Establishment and Impact Assessment of the Redclaw Crayfish (Cherax quadricarinatus) Invasion in the Kruger National Park, South Africa. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 35 (7). e70184. ISSN: 1052-7613
Abstract
Amidst the rapid degradation of the environment, protected areas act as a buffer for sensitive species against drivers of change. The Kruger National Park, in the Zambezian Lowveld Freshwater Ecoregion, encompasses two critical transboundary river basins, which are threatened by overexploitation, climate change and nonnative invasive species. We complete an assessment of the abundance, distribution, spread and potential impacts of the invasive redclaw crayfish on community assemblages throughout the five main rivers of the Kruger National Park and compare them to other invasive populations in Southern Africa. Redclaw crayfish have established populations in the Crocodile River and the Sabie-Sand River and are spreading at a rate of 7–8 km/year downstream and 3 km/year upstream. Abundance is lower than the more established invasions, but based on other trajectories, we can expect a tenfold increase in the next 5 years. No impact of crayfish presence or abundance was detected on fish or macroinvertebrate community assemblages. This suggests that as crayfish abundance is still relatively low, there may be a window of opportunity for targeted management. Management options in the rivers of the Kruger National Park are fraught with practical issues due to dangerous megafauna, but further understanding of the role of environmental flows on the establishment capacity of redclaw crayfish may hold some potential. Preventing new incursions into the protected area from watersheds originating outside of the park will need strategic multiorganisational collaboration.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2025 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | ecological impact, fish community, macroinvertebrate community, nonnative invasive species, protected area |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Biological Sciences (Leeds) > School of Biology (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number UKRI (UK Research and Innovation) MR/X035662/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 07 Jul 2025 10:50 |
Last Modified: | 08 Aug 2025 08:40 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Identification Number: | 10.1002/aqc.70184 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:228416 |