Discovery, distribution, and eradication potential of the introduced mud crab, «Rhithropanopeus harrisii», in the Panama Canal
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Eradication of invasive species is an eminent concept in conservation biology.After prevention is no longer an option, many ecologists argue that eradication is the most effective way to mitigate the risk of impacts from invasive species, given the elevated costs and often prolonged environmental effects of long-term control strategies.In the majority of systems, eradication is most likely to succeed early in the invasion process, when an invader is localized.However, rarely is early eradication considered in practice.This paradox may result from the many uncertainties regarding the future spread and impacts of novel invaders and managers lacking practical guidance to make logical decisions to manage them.In this thesis, I use a case study of an introduced mud crab, Rhithropanopeus harrisii, to propose guidelines for rapidly assessing and communicating the feasibility and the benefits of early eradication.First, I document the recent discovery of an established population of R. harrisii in the Panama Canal, highlighting how maritime traffic in this hub of international shipping may further increase the spread of this invader worldwide.Second, I evaluate the distribution, abundance, and demographics of R. harrisii across the Panama Canal with a standardized quantitative survey; I also assess the crab's potential for spread beyond its distribution in the Canal with two laboratory experiments.Third, I develop an analytical framework for evaluating the feasibility of a rapid response to eradicate R. harrisii and for communicating the potential benefits of this management strategy to decision-makers.My results indicate that R. harrisii currently occupies a limited range within two manmade lagoons adjacent to the Panama Canal, suggesting that eradication may be feasible.Furthermore, salinity Abstract Rhithropanopeus harrisii (Gould, 1841) is an estuarine crab native to the East Coast of North America.This species has invaded both the West Coast of the United States and several European countries since the late 1800s where it has reportedly altered native ecosystems.This crab can tolerate a broad range of salinities and temperatures, which probably contributes to its success as an invader.In 1969, five specimens of R. harrisii were recorded in Panama, but subsequent surveys suggest it was not established.Here, evidence is reported of an established, reproducing population of R. harrisii in the Panama Canal.The crab's entire distribution within this waterway remains to be determined and potential changes in its ecology, especially given the imminent expansion of the Canal, need to be evaluated.
Fetched live from OpenAlex and de-inverted. Abstracts are not stored in this database: the inverted indexes are 8.6 GB of the frame’s 9.3 GB of text, and the host has 13 GB free.
How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".