Pilot Study on Crayfish Impacts on Fire Salamander Larvae in Northern Italy

Northern Italy is the focus of this dataset from a pilot field study on the differential impacts of native and invasive crayfish. Valeria Messina collected data from five breeding sites in Lombardy during three nocturnal surveys between October and December 2023, sampling 560 fire salamander larvae. The dataset includes larval morphometrics, body condition estimates, injury records, and site-level crayfish counts with habitat descriptors.

Use Cases

• Modeling amphibian larval body condition based on morphometric measurements and Scaled Mass Index (SMI) estimates.
• Analyzing the correlation between crayfish presence (native vs. invasive) and sublethal injury rates in salamander larvae.
• Comparing larval development metrics across different habitat types described by altitude, area, and average depth.
• Assessing the spatial and temporal patterns of crayfish invasion impacts on a vulnerable native species.

Strengths

• Contains individual-level data for 560 salamander larvae, including morphometric measurements.
• Records sublethal injuries such as tail damage or missing limbs, which are specific metrics for assessing predator impact.
• Includes site-level environmental variables (water temperature, area, average depth, altitude) recorded during each of three surveys.
• Provides visual counts of crayfish categorized by species (native/invasive) and life stage (adult, juvenile, 0+).

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The dataset is small (65.6 KB), indicating a limited scope from a pilot study at five sites.

Provenance

Source

Valeria Messina via figshare

Collection Method

Nocturnal field surveys with visual counting, specimen measurement, and environmental recording.

Time Range

October to December 2023

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-15 13:40:00; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Five breeding sites in Lombardy, Northern Italy