Here you can find comments,
opinions and criticism on the project “Idle Crayfish: from the unknown to the next generation of species conservation assessment”, points of view addressed
to a wide audience expressed by our research team, but also from the outside.
mission
accomplished!
Dr. Lucian
Pârvulescu
The Idle Crayfish (Austropotamobius bihariensis), a species endemic
to Romania’s Apuseni Mountains and scientifically described in 2019,
has reached two major milestones in its conservation journey: it has
been officially included in the
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
and granted legal protection through its inclusion in Annex 3 and
Annex 5A of
GEO 7/2025,
the recent update of Romania’s national legislation transposing the
EU Habitats Directive (GEO 57/2007).
These achievements crown the efforts carried out within the
framework of this project, offering the species a clear pathway for
monitoring, reporting, and concrete conservation measures at both
national and international levels. A significant step forward for
local biodiversity and a successful example of aligning scientific
research with environmental policy
Antonio V. Laza, a student who was hired by
competition in the project team,
actively participated in field work, in the writing of scientific
papers and in international conferences. He is currently a graduate
in Biology and a master’s student at our university, focusing on
crayfish metabolism research.
David Livadariu and Andreea M. Lamoly, volunteer students in the
project, have started their own path on crayfish phylogeny and are
already actively
participating in scientific papers
(proven by co-authorship) and prestigious conferences.
An important professional achievement of my career was to defend the habilitation thesis entitled "Spatial
ecology through the eyes of crayfish species" and to
obtain the habilitation by Ministerial Order
3299
of 22.02.2022 (here
my coaching dedicated page). Thus, today I hold a permanent position of
Professorr at the West University of
Timisoara. At the same time, as a result of this factors, at the
West University of Timisoara, we have established for the first time
PhD level for the study in Biology, attached to the
Doctoral School of Exact Sciences and Natural
Sciences
(IOSUD - UVT). Our research activities revolve around the Crayfish
Research Center (EERTIS
portal). I am coordinating the first PhD student,
Andrei-Robert Ács, whose
thesis project is perfectly adapted
to the subject of this project because he worked as a volunteer
during the entire implementation.
Equally important, this project was an excellent opportunity to
strengthen the long-term collaboration with a prestigious team
coordinated by
Kathrin Theissinger (LOEWE-TBG, Senckenberg Nature Research Institute,
Frankfurt), a real preamble to the submission of a partnership
project in European funding programmes.
Last but not least, the return on our public money can be found
here.
The statistics only include papers published or accepted for
publication, but by consulting the Results page on the project
website, the latest statistics can be accessed.
After final reporting, our project was evaluated and rated "excellent".
This is the Annual Report consisting of
detailed information regarding the balance between proposed
objectives, costs and obtained results. The Funding Agency
(UEFISCDI) will receive the official document of this Annual Report,
the public version being adapted to be easy to read and understand.
The Annual Report is written and assumed by the Principal
Investigator of the Project.
Regarding the approach to publish preliminary data, a paper that
last year was sent for evaluation, this year has been accepted and
can be assimilated to 1st working package - Assessment of
ecological requirement.
Another paper, this time a review paper, became timely following the
invitation of a postdoctoral fellow as a result of his expertise on
the issue of Aphanomyces pathogens in crayfish.
With the onset of the favourable field investigation season, we
shifted the effort towards collecting new data. Since we were
pleasantly surprised to identify populations of the idle crayfish
outside the expected (previously known) range, we were in the
position to extend the field work as far as possible to thoroughly
investigate these basins as well. This has resulted in a delay in
the timing of most of the planned work reaching the maturity
threshold required for publication. Even so, at the time of final
reporting, most of the work we have undertaken is at an advanced
stage of work. Thus, the first paper also starts from a substantial
set of preliminary data but has been complemented by the latest
observations from field investigations. Using modern methods of
spatial analysis and mathematical modeling techniques, we tested and
validated the hypothesis explaining the lack of expansion of the
invasive crayfish species Faxonius limosus towards and within
areas occupied by native crayfish of the genus Austropotamobius.
Water velocity, estimated by us using a specially constructed index
based on digital data, seems to be the most important element
keeping invasive crayfish at bay. The paper also contains the
largest screening on the incidence of the pathogen Aphanomyces
astaci in native populations, analysed by classical and eDNA
methods. We are pleased that this work, from 1st working package
- Assessment of ecological requirement, is the most recently
published in a prestigious Q1 (red zone) journal according to AIS
Web of Science at the current date.
2nd work package - Assessment of genetic diversity starts
with two manuscripts. One of them is based on biological material
collected during 2021 and supplemented with samples from summer
2022, the project team conducted state-of-the-art population
genomics analyses. As the species does not yet have an assembled
reference genome, we opted for the ddRAD repetitive SNP sequence
analysis technique. The manuscript is under review at the journal
BMC Ecology and Evolution.
The second paper uses the solid landmarks provided by the
biogeography and evolution of the crayfish in the region. It is the
first time that a study has complied and analysed existing molecular
data in the literature and constructed a phylogeny of the entire
genus Austropotamobius based on mitochondrial cytochrome
oxidase subunit I. Thus, we were able to obtain a broad and
surprisingly clear picture of the main events that shaped the
biogeographical situation at the European level. Although we are
still in the phase of writing the manuscript, we are confident that
it can meet high demands and we will aim for a prestigious journal.
We invite readers to check the Results page to keep up to date with
the status of publications.
With the accumulation of data, the project team tackled objective 2,
establish the conservation measures for idle crayfish
populations. Two papers are currently
in the evaluation process. The first paper incorporates the great of
our experience with the intention of delivering the most appropriate
conservation status for the idle crayfish. Based on the methodology
of the most relevant international species conservation forum, the
IUCN Red List for Threatened Species, we analysed historical data
(which we hold since 2010) against current data, concluding that the
status of 'endangered' is the most appropriate. We look forward to
the editorial decision, and then take move to the next level to take
the required steps to list the species on the IUCN Red List
platform. The manuscript is currently under review at Global Ecology
and Conservation.
The second paper around this objective, currently under review at
Conservation Science and Practice, starts from the status of the
populations but is much more practically designed to be useful to
environmental managers, making it the flagship paper for this
project. Our data, modeled mathematically, allowed us to estimate
very important aspects of conservation management. We provide data
on optimal habitat quality and subpopulations size in three
different scenarios (optimistic, conservative, pessimistic), all
separately for each protected area in the region (Natura2000 site or
nature park).
Our efforts to provide a future for the idle crayfish do not stop at
science alone. All the legal and necessary steps have been taken to
include Austropotamobius bihariensis in the annexes updating the
Romanian Government Emergency Ordinance No 57/2007 on the regime
of protected natural areas, conservation of natural habitats, wild
flora and fauna. The application is in Parliament and will
follow the specific course until publication in the Official Gazette
of Romania.
In order to promote and disseminate the results of the project, we
participated in numerous scientific communications, during which the
young researchers in the team, as well as the student volunteers,
were promoted to gain experience. The full list of conference
participations, as well as access to the content presented
(PowerPoint or poster), can be consulted on the page dedicated to
the project Results.
This is the Annual Report consisting of
detailed information regarding the balance between proposed
objectives, costs and obtained results. The Funding Agency
(UEFISCDI) will receive the official document of this Annual Report,
the public version being adapted to be easy to read and understand.
The Annual Report is written and assumed by the Principal
Investigator of the Project.
In
the inertia of the preliminary data, we continued to work with the
dataset assimilated to the 1st
working package - Assessment of ecological requirement.
We started from the idea that, in their ecology, crayfish shelter is
often poorly penetrable for oxygen from the air. We thus
experimented, both through live animal approaches and computer
simulations, the behaviour of dissolved oxygen available within such
a microhabitat. To our surprise, a shelter longer than 20 cm
occupied with a adult-sized crayfish becomes anoxic in about 8 hours
after the start of the experiment, we assume, because diffusion into
the water cannot satisfy the consumption rate of the live crayfish.
The major surprise was to find that the crayfish survives even after
the anoxic threshold is reached, with the duration ranging from 3 to
12 hours. We went even further and converged a team of researchers
from several countries (Australia, Japan, Brazil, USA) to see if
other crayfish can survive without oxygen. The work „Living on the
edge: Crayfish as drivers to anoxification of their own
shelter microenvironment” is currently
under review at the journal PLoS ONE.
The process of collecting new data, activities related to 1st
working package - Assessment of ecological requirement
continued. Since at the time of the project submission the
distribution of the Idle crayfish (A. bihariensis) was known
to cover only the western part of the Apuseni Mountains (the upper
reaches of the Criș), the project team worked intensively to find
out if populations also exist in the eastern part, i.e. the Arieș
and Someș rivers. Three populations have already been identified in
the upper Arieș basin, which is why we considered that the
publication of the ecology of this species should be postponed to
next year, to complete the investigations on the eastern side of the
Apuseni Mountains, an effort that involves field trips also during
2023. For all investigated populations we collected material for
analyses specific to work package II (Genetic diversity assessment),
namely: (i) tissue samples for population genetics, (ii) exoskeleton
parts (uropods) to investigate the presence or absence of the
pathogen Aphanomyces astaci (activities that are part of work
package III). It should also be noted that to make the process of
handling genetic material under international conventions (Nagoya
protocol), all the necessary permits were requested and obtained
during 2022, namely: (i) a point of view from the Ministry of
Environment, Water and Forests (DGB/2/R/5787/16.08.2022), (ii)
collection permits from the Environmental Protection Agencies of the
5 counties (Bihor 76/20.09.2022, Arad 29/27.10.2022, Alba
8027/26.07.2022, Sălaj 53/20.09.2022, Cluj 77/28.10.2022), (iii)
permit from the National Agency for Protected Natural Areas
(882/15.09.2022), (iv) opinion of the Romanian Academy through the
Commission for the Protection of Natural Monuments (1/CJ/13.01.2021).
2nd work package - Assessment of genetic diversity. Using the
biological material collected during 2021, completed with samples
collected in summer 2022, the project team prepared the ddRAD
genotyping sample batch. At the time of reporting, the samples are
in the process of analysis, the effort of publication being a
priority for 2023. We expect that by acquiring these results we will
gain a better understanding of the origin of this newly described
species, as well allowing us to observe the reality is in the field
in terms of the biological quality of the populations. In this
process, the reference genome we sequenced in 2022 is of a real
help.
All the above is the basis for the project's objective 2,
establish the conservation measures for idle crayfish populations,
a laborious process that will also consider listing the species in
the IUCN Red List, based on specific requirements and assigning
conservation status. For this work package, in 2022 we completed
qPCR analyses to detect the pathogen Aphanomyces astaci (the
causative agent of crayfish plague) in crayfish exoskeleton samples.
We also extended the search to eDNA targeting the invasive
Faxonius limosus in water filtrate samples from both the
crayfish area and the periphery. Also, in order to obtain data for
this objective, during 2022 the team processed geospatial data
expanding the area of interest with new locations discovered in the
distribution of the species, as well as with newest recent published
locations mentioning the invasive species Faxonius limosus
across the Europe. We have thus built a solid database for the
application of mathematical models in order to calculate and project
the ecological optimum of the native versus invasive species in the
area occupied by the Idle Crayfish (Crișul Alb, Negru, Repede and
Arieș basins). The aim of these geospatial analyses is to identify
the areas with the best ecological characteristics and to quantify
the degree of fragmentation between populations, an action planned
to reach publication maturity in 2023.
In
order to promote and disseminate the results of the project,
the PI invitation to the International Scientific Communications
Session of the „Țării Crișurilor” Museum Complex, Oradea.
Interferences. Past, Present, Future, event organized by the Cris
Country Museum Complex, Oradea should be mentioned. The paper
presented was "Hidden in plain sight: A journey on plate tectonics
of the Apuseni Mountains revealed a new European crayfish species".
In addition, volunteer student David Livadariu participated in the
conference. The year 2022 was also the year of IAA23 - Symposium of
the International Association of Astacology, organized by the
University of South Bohemia, Hluboká nad Vltavou, Czech Republic.
Papers presented by the project team were: "Towards real-time global
mapping of crayfish species and crayfish plague occurrence",
"Strength and boldness a side-by-side comparison of native
narrow-clawed crayfish (Pontastacus leptodactylus) and
invasive spiny-cheek crayfish (Faxonius limosus), "Mapping
the scientific research on crayfish behaviour: A bibliometric
analysis". The participation team included PI, Research Assistant,
PhD student Mihaela C. Ion, and Laboratory Assistant and student
Antonio V. Laza.
This is the Annual Report consisting of
detailed information regarding the balance between proposed
objectives, costs and obtained results. The Funding Agency
(UEFISCDI) will receive the official document of this Annual Report,
the public version being adapted to be easy to read and understand.
The Annual Report is written and assumed by the Principal
Investigator of the Project.
At the moment
of submitting the application, we already had an important set of
preliminary data on the basis of which the funding application main
hypotheses were built. Using these data, we carried out two
scientific papers that subscribe to the 1st working package -
Assessment of ecological requirements:
The first paper
highlights certain morphological and behavioral assets of the
invasive species Faxonius limosus, the major conclusion being
that this species has a real biological advantage highlighted by a
higher level of boldness due to the endowment with claws whose
configuration can provide a contraction force far superior to the
native species Pontastacus leptodactylus.
In the second
paper we analyzed a consistent set of data on the distribution of
native species of crayfish in Romania in the context of soil type
spatiality. This analysis highlighted the specificity of
Austropotamobius bihariensis for the compact type of substrate,
which confirms the need for stable river banks of this species
individuals dig galleries.
The team worked
hard during the summer to complete the distribution maps of the Idle
Crayfish (A. bihariensis) in the Apuseni Mountains,
activities related to the 1st working package - Assessment of
ecological requirements. This process was divided into two
stages, 2021 and 2022, in the first stage focusing on the
watercourses in the west, respectively the Criș basins. Already
known populations were reconfirmed, but also 7 new populations were
identified. The ultimate goal of this effort was to provide a
detailed and up-to-date map of the species' distribution, but also
to collect material for further analysis. At this stage of project
implementation, the newly collected data being still insufficient
for fulfilling coverage of the targeted territory (Apuseni
Mountains), it cannot be about reaching a degree of maturity
necessary for publication.
The most
important challenge of this stage of the project is the sequencing
of a reference genome, the activity related to the 2nd work package
- Assessment of genetic diversity. Thus, the Idle Crayfish (A.
bihariensis), and implicitly our project, are pioneering this
objective in Romania and also in Europe, making us happy and
responsible at the same time.
From the
perspective of scientific communications, the PI lectured “Hidden in
plain sight” at the Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology
Department, University of Debrecen, Hungary (April 15, 2021).
Part of the project preliminary
results were presented (in Romanian) by Mihaela C. Ion at "The 61st
- Annual Session of Scientific Communication" Bucharest, Institute
of Biology (December 10, 2021).
There
were also press releases related to the project scope, this species
story being related in the Mindcraft Stories article "A
crayfish father" (in Romanian), at the local level, in
Bihoreanul or
Jurnalul Satului Căbești,
articles to popularize the species, but also to inform the local
peoples about the imminent risks. Radio Romania News, in the show "Vatra
Luminoasă" (directed by Costin Enache) dedicated two episodes, also,
during the series "Deschis la Știință" with Cristian Presură , an
YouTube channel, the Idle Crayfish was the headline (here).
This project
meant more as it was the necessary requirement to meet the minimum
criteria for the Habilitation for the PI. Thus, immediately, the
habilitation thesis entitled “Spatial ecology through the prism of
crayfish species” (accessible in full format
here) was written, the public
defense taking place on June 16, 2021, within the Doctoral School of
Integrative Biology from Babeș-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca.
A crucial point
of internationalization is the affiliation of the PI to the European
Reference Genome Atlas (ERGA)
initiative as a regional representative. ERGA aims to bring together
specialists in taxonomy, genomics, and bioinformatics to create a
database with reference-quality genomes for all European species. It should be mentioned that through ERGA it is
expectable that other species of crayfish will benefit
from genomic sequencing, thus our results becoming a reference.
Promoting
students is a priority, around the project we co-opted and
integrated a number of two volunteers, involved in various actions
in the field.
More than ever, this competition has meant everything to my professional career. Not one but two are the reasons why this project meant so much.
The first, and most obvious, is my desire to offer a future to my new-born "child" - the Idle Crayfish (Austropotamobius bihariensis). I would like to see it protected from the environmental threats. It needs special care because the populations are small, restricted to a small geographical area (true, mostly in protected areas), which involves a number of problems: risk of biological degradation due to inbreeding, risk of being exposed, and consequently literally exterminated, to invasive species and the carried pathogens.
The second reason is that I really want to coagulate a team around me. This can be done when you have the right to coordinate doctorates. I kept trying to keep young students around me but their interest was probably not very clearly established, I lost them along the way. Moreover, those interested in research had to choose another coordinator during their academic career. All I needed to initiate the habilitation procedure (this is the name of the certificate that allows to lead doctorates according to Romanian legislation) was to have in my portfolio, in addition to a certain score that I had already satisfied for more than 7 years, two projects as Principal Investigator (i.e., win it on your own idea) and I only had one won in
2015.
So here are the ingredients for which this project competition meant a chance for me. Unfortunately, such project competitions have not regularly open calls, which is frustrating because you don't have a horizon in which to reorganize yourself.
I gave all my best this summer. I wrote, organized and applied with this project proposals that seems to have liked the evaluators enough to give it 93.4 points. Enough to place me on the 13th place (what a luck!!!) out of a total of 81 submitted, on a fundable position. I want to recall some criticism from the reviewers: (i) they found my CV good, but not great - okay, it was frustrating that after I submitted the application, some of the most important papers got acceptance from the editors in significant journals, but all it matters was what you had at the time of project proposal submission; (ii) I didn't had any prizes - and rightly, I didn't. Again, after sending the proposal, I received two extremely important awards: the
"Mircea Zăgănescu" Award from
West University of Timisoara and the
"Award for Excellence in Research" from Ad Astra Association. But again, they were not going to matter in the evaluation because they had appeared after my application was sent; and finally (iii) the fact that I am not the editor of any major scientific journal - and guess what?... after submission, I was invited (without doing anything specifically) to be editor of
Water and more recently, at the
Frontiers publishing group.
Program: PN III - Fundamental and frontier research Subprogram: Exploratory Research Projects Financing: Romanian Government Financing Authority: Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research and Innovation (UEFISCDI) Applicant's Guide:
here >>
Accepted proposals of 2021 competition, domain Biology and
Ecology:
here >>
