For their great commercial importance as a human food delicacy, crayfish are now becoming of wider interest to molecular biologists, and also to conservationists due to the fact that in some countries many of the native crayfish species are under threat from human activity, disease, and competition from other introduced crayfish species. Helmed by three editors in Japan, Europe, and the US, Freshwater Crayfish: A Global Overview invites contributions from experts around the globe, covering the conservation status and biology of all endangered species, taxonomy, and distribution of crayfishes worldwide.
Section 1: New model organism for biology
- General Biology, Happy Birthday! The First Decade of Marmorkrebs research-Results and Perspective; G. Scholtz of Humboldt University zu Berlin, Germany
- Conservation, Predicting the range expansion of a partenogenic crayfish invader; P. Feria and Z. Faulkes of The University of Texas-Pan America, USA
- Experimental Biology, Marble Crayfish as A New Model Organism and A New Threat to native Crayfish Conservation; Z. Faulkes of The University of Texas-Pan America, USA
- Physiology, Tolerance of Marbled Crayfish Procambarusfallax f. virginalis to Low Temperature in Nordic Climate; K. Kaldre of Estonian University of Life Science, Estonia
- Reproductive biology, Parthenogenesis: Mechanisms, evolution, and its Relevance to the Role of Marbled Crayfish as Model Organism and Potential Invader; P. Martin of Humboldt Universitat zu Berlin, Germany
- Aquarium, Marbled crayfish Gaining Ground in Europe: the Role of the Pet Trade as invasion Pathway; C. Chucholl of Fisheries Research Station BW, Germany
- Cell biology, Research on stem cells, Ageing, Cancer Resistance, and Epigenetics in Marbled Crayfish and Relatives: Potential Benefits for Human Biology and Medicine; G. Vogt of University of Heidelberg, Germany
Section 2: Crayfish: new developments
- Aquaculture,Developing Markets for New Product: Aquacultured Redclaw in Mexico; A. Garza de Yta of CRM International S.C., Mexico
- The Biology of Crayfish Plague Pathogen Aphanomyces astaci: Current Answers to Most Frequent Questions; J. Dieguez-Uribeondo of Royal Botanic Garden, Spain
- Environment, A Review of Current Techniques for Sampling Freshwater Crayfish; S. Parkyn of Freshwater Ecology Consultant, Australia
- Behavior, Behavioral ecology of invasive crayfish: its contribution to conservation; E. Tricarico of Florence University, Italy
- Prevent crayfish plague, Chaos and Adaptation in the Pathogen-Host Relationship in Relation to the Conservation: the Case of the Crayfish Plague and the Noble Crayfish; J. Jussila, H. Kokko, and J. Makkonen of The University of Eastern Finland, Finland, Ivana Maguire of University of Zagreb, Croatia
- Monitoring, Crayfish as Tools in Water Quality Monitoring; P. Kozak and I. Kuklina of South Bohemian University, Czech
- Phylogeny, Phylogenetic Estimate of the Freshwater Crayfish (Decapoda: Astacidea) using Morphology and Molecules; D. Stern and K. Crandall of The George Washington University, USA
Section 3: Global overview of freshwater crayfish biology
- Atlantic North America, The Crayfish Fauna of Canada and the United States in North America; R. Thoma, USA
- Middle America, The Crayfish of Middle America; F. Alvarezand J. L. Villalobos of Colección Nacional de Crustáceos, Instituto de Biología, Mexico
- Pacific North America, Historical Biogeography of Pacifastacus crayfishes and their Branchiobdellidan and Entocytherid Ectosymbionts in Western North America; E. Larson of University of Tennessee and B. W. Williams of Southern Illinois University, USA
- South America, The Native South American Crayfish (Decapoda: Parastacidae); E. Rudolph of Universidad de Los Lagos, Chile, M. P. Almerao of Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, BI, Brazil
- Oceania, the Freshwater Crayfish of the Oceania Region; J. M. Furseand K. L. Dawkins of Griffith University, Q. F. Burnham of Edith Cowan University, A. M. M. Richardson of University of Tasmania, Australia
- Africa, Crayfish of Africa; C. Boyko of American Museum of Natural History, USA
- Europe, Crayfish in Europe: Biogeography, Ecology and Conservation; L. Fureder University of Innsbruck, Austria
- Asia, Taxonomic Synopsis and Biology; T. Kawai of Wakkanai Fisheries Institute, Japan, G. S. Min of Ina University, South Korea, E. I. Baravanshchikov of TINRO, Russia, V. S. Labay of SakhNIRO, Russia, and H. S. Ko of Silla University of South Korea
- Crayfish worms, Branchiobdellidans (Annelida: Clitellata), Ectosymbionts of Crayfishes; S. R. Gelder of University of Main at Presque Isle, and B. W. Williams of Southern Illinois University, USA