Digital Commons Network^™

Multiscale Habitat Associations Of Three Primary Burrowing Crayfish, Shane Welch

All Dissertations

The distribution and habitat associations of three primary burrowing crayfish species were examined at the landscape and patch scales. GIS based predictors were used to model the species occurrence across the study landscapes and vegetation structure data were used to model crayfish abundance within landscape patches. Distocambarus crockeri, a species endemic to the piedmont physiographic region of South Carolina was a terrestrial habitat specialist at broad because of its association with well drained ridge-top soils. Within these soils D. crockeri were dependent on open treeless habitats. The species habitat was consistent with early descriptions of the region and suggested that …