Effects of zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) on seston levels and sediment deposition in western Lake Erie

1996 ◽  
Vol 53 (10) ◽  
pp. 2284-2291 ◽  
Author(s):  
P L Klerks ◽  
P C Fraleigh ◽  
J E Lawniczak
1995 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 578-586 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. D. Fitzsimons ◽  
J. H. Leach ◽  
S. J. Nepszy ◽  
V. W. Cairns

A walleye spawning shoal (Sunken Chicken Reef) in western Lake Erie was sampled during the spring of 1990 and 1991 to assess the abundance of the zebra mussel Dreissena polymorpha and to determine its impact on walleye reproduction. Mussel abundance ranged from 76 500/m2 at 1.5 m depth to 344 300/m2 at 4.5 m depth at the shoal (1990). Despite the almost total coverage of spawning beds walleye continued to spawn at the shoal, with no apparent effect of the mussels on egg deposition, egg viability, and interstitial dissolved oxygen. Although preinvasion data for walleye egg deposition are not comparable to data from this study, deposition appears adequate based on good indices of recruitment of young-of-the-year walleye derived from resource agency trawling during 1990 and 1991. Thus there appears to have been no adverse impacts of zebra mussel on walleye reproduction in western Lake Erie during 1990 and 1991.


1995 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 381-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles P. Madenjian

A bioenergetics model for growth of a zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) individual was verified with observations on zebra mussel growth in western Lake Erie. The bioenergetics model was then applied to the zebra mussel population in the western basin of Lake Erie to estimate the removal of phytoplankton by mussels. According to the modeling results, the zebra mussel population consumed 5.0 million tonnes of phytoplankton, while 1.4 million tonnes of phytoplankton was deposited in pseudofeces from the mussels. Thus, a total of 6.4 ± 2.4 million tonnes of phytoplankton was removed from the water column by zebra mussel in western Lake Erie during 1990. Primary production was estimated to be 24.8 million tonnes; therefore, zebra mussel removed the equivalent of 26 ± 10% of the primary production for western Lake Erie.


1994 ◽  
Vol 51 (10) ◽  
pp. 2234-2242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Don W. Schloesser ◽  
Thomas F. Nalepa

Unionid bivalves and attached epizoic zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) were collected at one index station in 1989, 1990, and 1991 and at 17 stations in 1991 in offshore waters of western Lake Erie of the Laurentian Great Lakes. Sampling at the index station revealed that the proportion of live unionids declined from 53% in September 1989 to 17% in May–June 1990 and to 0% in September 1990: this 100% mortality coincided with heavy infestation by zebra mussels. Quantitative sampling with a Ponar grab at the 17 stations in 1991 revealed a widespread and dramatic reduction in unionid populations. In 1982, five unionid species occurred at 35% of the stations at a density of 4/m2, whereas in 1991, no live unionid species were found. Qualitative sampling with an epibenthic sled at the 17 stations in 1991 yielded only 4 live specimens of 2 species (Amblema plicata plicata and Fusconaia flava) and 187 dead specimens of 10 species. These and other results indicate that unionid populations are being negatively affected by zebra mussels in the Great Lakes. Similar impacts on unionids are expected to occur where zebra mussels become abundant throughout North America.


1991 ◽  
Vol 48 (11) ◽  
pp. 2051-2060 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugh J. Maclsaac ◽  
W. Gary Sprules ◽  
J. H. Leach

The zebra mussel Dreissena polymorpha established populations in western Lake Erie in 1986 and achieved densities exceeding 3.4 × 105 individuals∙m−2 during 1990. We assessed apparently incidental predation on Lake Erie and Erindale Pond zooplankton by adult mussels. Dreissena larvae and small rotifers (Polyarthra spp., Keratella spp., Trichocerca) sustained moderate to high predatory mortality whereas larger taxa (Bosmina, Scapholeberis) were invulnerable to predation. Larval Dreissena almost always sustain > 99% mortality in European lakes. While mortality has been ascribed primarily to lack of suitable settling substrate and unfavourable environmental conditions, it may be confounded by larval predation by adults. We demonstrate using STELLA™-modelling that with a larval mortality rate of 99%, settled mussel densities observed in western Lake Erie during 1990 would not be achieved until at least 1994. A model that combines a lower rate (70%) of abiotic mortality with larval predation by adult mussels correctly predicts 1990 mussel densities. This model of Dreissena population growth is also consistent with larval settlement patterns in Lakes Erie and St. Clair and some European systems.


1993 ◽  
Vol 50 (5) ◽  
pp. 1017-1022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher M. Bunt ◽  
Hugh J. Maclsaac ◽  
W. Gary Sprules

Small-bodied (2–11 mm), settled zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha Pallas) comprise up to 90% of individuals inhabiting reefs in western Lake Erie. We assessed pumping rates of these size classes of D. polymorpha by injecting an inert dye into inhalant filtering currents and monitoring exhalant flows using high-resolution videography. Pumping rates ranged between 0.20 and 4.45 mL∙ind−1∙h−1 and increased in relation to mussel shell length. Based on 1990 size–frequency distributions for reefs in western Lake Erie and our pumping rate – shell length regression, small settled D. polymorpha were theoretically capable of pumping between 39 and 96% of the water column daily. Small-bodied mussels inhabiting Sunken Chicken Reef were collectively capable of processing between 110 and 400% of the values previously reported for Daphnia. Recent changes in water quality in western Lake Erie could be primarily related to zebra mussel filtering activities, including those of small-bodied individuals.


1993 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendell R. Haag ◽  
David J. Berg ◽  
David W. Garton ◽  
Jerry L. Farris

Fouling by the recently established zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) causes differential effects among bivalve communities. In 3-mo experiments and surveys conducted in western Lake Erie during 1990, two native bivalves, Lampsilis radiata and Amblema plicata, showed consistent differences in mortality and biochemical indices of fitness in response to fouling by D. polymorpha. Lampsilis radiata was very sensitive to fouling, experiencing high mortality and reduced fitness in experiments and natural populations. In field experiments, female L. radiata suffered higher mortality and lower fitness than males. Amblema plicata was less sensitive to fouling; fitness was reduced in experimentally fouled A. plicata, but mortality and fitness in natural populations were not affected by D. polymorpha. Six species of native bivalves showed marked differences in mortality rates at three sites surveyed in western Lake Erie. Mortality was higher in the subfamilies Anodontinae and Lampsilinae (including L. radiata) than in Ambleminae (including A. plicata) at all three sites, suggesting that differences in life history strategy and shell morphology among subfamilies may be responsible for differential responses to fouling. These data suggest that fouling by D. polymorpha will result in profound changes in native bivalve community structure.


1998 ◽  
Vol 32 (24) ◽  
pp. 3862-3867 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather A. Morrison ◽  
Frank A. P. C. Gobas ◽  
Rodica Lazar ◽  
D. Michael Whittle ◽  
G. Douglas Haffner

2001 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 892-904 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josef Daniel Ackerman ◽  
Mark R. Loewen ◽  
Paul F. Hamblin

2001 ◽  
Vol 58 (6) ◽  
pp. 1208-1221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry A Vanderploeg ◽  
James R Liebig ◽  
Wayne W Carmichael ◽  
Megan A Agy ◽  
Thomas H Johengen ◽  
...  

Microcystis aeruginosa, a planktonic colonial cyanobacterium, was not abundant in the 2-year period before zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) establishment in Saginaw Bay (Lake Huron) but became abundant in three of five summers subsequent of mussel establishment. Using novel methods, we determined clearance, capture, and assimilation rates for zebra mussels feeding on natural and laboratory M. aeruginosa strains offered alone or in combination with other algae. Results were consistent with the hypothesis that zebra mussels promoted blooms of toxic M. aeruginosa in Saginaw Bay, western Lake Erie, and other lakes through selective rejection in pseudofeces. Mussels exhibited high feeding rates similar to those seen for a highly desirable food alga (Cryptomonas) with both large ( >53 µm) and small (<53 µm) colonies of a nontoxic and a toxic laboratory strain of M. aeruginosa known to cause blockage of feeding in zooplankton. In experiments with naturally occurring toxic M. aeruginosa from Saginaw Bay and Lake Erie and a toxic isolate from Lake Erie, mussels exhibited lowered or normal filtering rates with rejection of M. aeruginosa in pseudofeces. Selective rejection depended on "unpalatable" toxic strains of M. aeruginosa occurring as large colonies that could be rejected efficiently while small desirable algae were ingested.


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