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The European green crab ( Carcinus maenas ) is a crustacean species native to European and North African coastlines that has become one of the world’s most successful marine invasive species. Targeted fishing programs aimed at removing green crabs from invaded ecosystems commonly use Fukui multi-species marine traps. Improving the efficiency of these traps would improve the ability to respond to green crab invasions. In this study, we developed four distinct trap modifications that were designed to facilitate the successful capture of green crabs, with the goal of improving the performance of the Fukui trap. We tested these modifications in situ during the summer of 2016 at two locations in Placentia Bay, Newfoundland. We discovered that three of our modified Fukui trap designs caught significantly more green crabs than the standard Fukui trap, increasing catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) by as much as 81%. We conclude that our top-performing modifications have great potential for widespread use with existing Fukui traps that are being used for green crab removal efforts.

The European green crab ( Carcinus maenas ) is a destructive marine invader that was first discovered in Newfoundland waters in 2007 and has since become established in nearshore ecosystems on the south and west coast of the island. Targeted fishing programs aimed at removing green crabs from invaded Newfoundland ecosystems use Fukui traps, but the capture efficiency of these traps has not been previously assessed. We assessed Fukui traps using in situ observation with underwater video cameras as they actively fished for green crabs. From these videos, we recorded the number of green crabs that approached the trap, the outcome of each entry attempt (success or failure), and the number of exits from the trap. Across eight videos, we observed 1,226 green crab entry attempts, with only a 16% rate of success from these attempts. Based on these observations we believe there is scope to improve the performance of the Fukui trap through modifications in order to achieve a higher catch per unit effort (CPUE), maximizing trap usage for mitigation. Ultimately, a more efficient Fukui trap will help to control green crab populations in order to preserve the function and integrity of ecosystems invaded by the green crab.

Metacommunity ecology provides a basis for understanding how ecological communities are assembled. Metacommunity theory can be applied to assess the effects of anthropogenic disturbance on freshwater communities. However, few studies have examined how species-specific responses to environmental covariates can generate broader patterns in freshwater metacommunities. I determined occupancy patterns in an amphibian metacommunity to identify important predictors of reproduction at wetland sites. I conducted surveys at 49 wetlands for tadpoles with fish traps and dip netting in an urbanising region in southeastern Australia. The larvae of seven frog species were detected. There were negative relationships between the probabilities of reproduction at a site and the relative abundance of the eastern mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) and wetland electrical conductivity. There was a positive relationship between tadpole occupancy and the proportion of accessible habitat within 1000 m of a site, a measure of the combined effects of roads and habitat amount. These results highlight the negative effect of predatory Gambusia on frog communities and illustrate the importance of the species-sorting and mass-effect perspectives of metacommunity theory at multiple spatial scales. Habitat restoration projects for amphibians should remove exotic fish or prevent their establishment in managed wetlands and maintain habitat connectivity to facilitate dispersal.