Invasion of Lake Erie Offshore Sediments by Dreissena, and Its Ecological Implications

Abstract

Derrnott, R., and M. Munawar. 1993. Invasion of Lake Erie offshore sediments by Breissena, and its ecological implications. Can. j. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 58: 2298-2304.Large populations sf the exotic rounded (noncarinate) shelled mussel sf the genus Breissena were found to exist on soft sediments collected throughout the central and eastern basins of Lake Erie during July and August 1992. Two different phenotypes were present on fine sediments (91 50 ym) in the eastern basin. An elongated white morph was common on the profundal sediments beyond 40 rn depth, while the "quagga" mussel was common on sand and sandy silt at depths between 10 and 30 rn. Together with the carinated zebra mussel Breissena pslg/larsrpha, which is very abundant on hard substrates in the sublittoral region, at least 80% of bake Erie's bottom sediments have been invaded by Dre-eissena. Only that region of the central basin (near Cleveland) which undergoes periodic summer anoxia was not inhabited by this genus. B e grandes populations de moule exotique 2 csquille arrondie (non carknke) appartenant au &enre Breissena ont 6tk observees sur des skdiments mous recueillis dans les bassins du centre et de I'est du lac Erik, en juillet et en aoOt 1992. Deux phknotypes diffbrents se trouvaient dans des sediments fins (9 150 pm) dans le bassin de I'est. Une forme blanche allsngbe &it co~srante sur les sediments profonds plus de 40 rn de profondeur, tandis que [a rnoule (( quagga )) etait courant sur le sable et le limon sableux, 2 des profondeurs comprises entre 18 et 38 m. La rnoule zebr6e carknke Dreissena polporpha est tres abondante sur Ies substrats durs de la rkgion jnfralittorale; ensemble, les trois types de Dreissena ont colonis6 au rnoins 80% des sediments de fond du lac Erik. Seule la region du bassin central (pr& de Cleveland) qui subit des periodes d'anoxie en 6t4 nf@tait pas envahie par ce genre.

Filtration Rates of the Zebra Mussel ( Dreissena polymorpha ) on Natural Seston from Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron

“…These relatively high impact estimates were site-specific and not likely applicable to the entire western basin. Impacts were based on a population density of about 260,000/m 2 , which is far greater than densities found in most other areas of the western basin (Dermott andMunawar 1993, Garton andHaag 1993). Reeders et al (1989) determined that Dreissena was capable of filtering the entire volume of two lakes in the Netherlands in 11 and 18 days, respectively.…”

Interspecies comparison of selected pollution biomarkers in dreissenid spp. inhabiting pristine and moderately polluted sites

“…Mussels were cleaned of shell debris and allowed to flush sediment and gut contents overnight in aerated filtered lake water in 200 L flow-through system aquaria. Separation of mussel samples in groups of D. polymorpha and D. bugensis was performed based on the differences in ventral surface morphology, which is distinctly flattened for zebra mussels and slightly rounded for quagga mussels (Dermott and Munawar, 1993;. Except for a single harbour (H3), where the mussel population was dominated by D. polymorpha (approx.…”

Early invasion population structure of quagga mussel and associated benthic invertebrate community composition on soft sediment in a large reservoir

“…Although Dreissena prefer hard substrates (Mills et al 1996), it has been observed that D. bugensis can better persist in deep, offshore waters within soft substrate compared to zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha; Dermott and Munawar 1993). In Lake Erie, D. bugensis was abundant on sand and sandy silt at depths between 10 and 30 m, on profundal sediments beyond 40 m (Dermott and Munawar 1993) and have also been observed in Lake Ontario soft sediments down to 130 m (Mills et al 1993, Claxton andMackie 1998). In 1992, early invasion densities of D. bugensis in central Lake Erie soft sediments ranged from 0 to >10,000/m 2 with population increases in 1993 Munawar 1993, Dermott andKerec 1997).…”