Zebra Mussel Research Paper

Today, what once was a scenic lake is covered in chest-high weeds. “ Boaters and fisherman enjoy going to Lake Bridgeport during the summer. But in the summer of 2013 the boat ramps were unusable so the number of residents going to the lake dropped. There are dead fish floating to the shoreline as well as many other wildlife animals. The lake tested positive for Zebra Mussel larva, which is shell like creatures that are very sharp and stick to boats, anchors and docks. The Mussels are very dangerous for the lake environment, but they also eat bacteria so they could help the lake water clear up. If no water is drained out of Lake Bridgeport then the residents of Eagle Mountain Lake and Lake Worth could possibly run out of drinking water.

As well as pollution, invasive species are damaging the lake ecosystems and food chains, made fragile by pollution and overfishing. The introduction of a new species throws off the balance of food chains. Some common invasive species include the sea lamprey, Asian carp, and zebra mussels, among many others. Zebra mussels have dramatically influenced and affected stable food chains by reducing the amount of zooplankton and phytoplankton. This presents a problem, as fish mostly feed on the drifters, and so they go hungry and die, leaving no food for larger fish to prey on. In addition to underwater disruption, it affects us as well, but only slightly. Plankton and algae especially are the most productive aquatic producers of oxygen, and by the decreasing population, we lose oxygen as well. The sea lamprey is also a problem, though it is not so influential to ecosystems as the zebra mussel.

     Colonization by zebra mussels has devastating ecological impacts on native bivalves (Mackie, 1991; Haag et al., 1993), frequently driving them to local extinction. Zebra mussels readily, perhaps preferentially, settle on native bivalves and eventually cover them over. They filter the water so efficiently that they can lower the amount of suspended food organisms below levels needed to sustain native unionids.

Some examples include the zebra mussel, sea lamprey, and Asian carp. The zebra mussel first came to the great lakes by traveling in the ballast water of a transoceanic vessel. Over the years, it has spread into the entire great lakes system. They are very dense with contaminants, which causes predators to stray away from them and not digest them. The zebra mussel has had many negative impacts on the ecosystem. A zebra mussel can attach themselves firmly to any solid object, which has caused water intake and discharge pipes to clog. Some other impacts include suppressing native mussels, over clarifying the water, and stripping water from various plankton that native fish eat. Sea lamprey are another invasive species in the great lakes. A sea lamprey is an eel like fish that sucks bodily fluids from other fish. They have traveled to the great lakes on their own by swimming up the Hudson River. They have contributed to the collapse of the whitefish and lake trout fisheries. Some prevention actions have been put in place and include chemical treatments of spawning

The Holocaust was a tragic event that traumatized millions around the world forever. From broken hearts to family deaths, we will never forget those who lived through these haunting times. Those who lived in concentration camps were locked up, and yelled at everyday to do specific things one way. Otherwise, they would be killed. Since the camps were so full of people, diseases spread easily and food was scarce. The prisoners throughout the camp then began to starve and die off. From this derived the term of the “musselmen”. A musselmen is a prisoner of a concentration camp that is neglectful towards their appearance, and are inactive or dementive. As time continued on, starvation and disease throughout the camps caused many changes in the prisoners, which led them to become musselmen. The changes within these musselmen included a drastic difference in their appearance, mental state, and how their disease tortured them as they drifted between life and death.

Some people may claim that zebra mussels are not a widespread threat. They may argue that the species affects only a small area. However, a disruption of a food chain is a major threat to all the animals-and people-in the environment.

Eurasian milfoil or Myriophyllum spicatum is an aquatic invasive plant that can be found throughout the Chicagoland area and in surrounding bodies of water. This plant can be a hinderance to swimming, boating, and fishing because of their thick, tangled stems and mats of vegetation. According to the Minnesota Sea Grant, Eurasian milfoil also overcrowd a body of water which leaves little room for the plants native to the Great Lakes. One prediction is that if the Eurasian milfoil is not stopped, a reduction of biodiversity may result in Chicago and the areas surrounding it. If this was to occur, the ecosystems of the Midwest region would be significantly impacted in a negative way.

At the bottom of the Missouri's streams lives the Lampsilis siliquoidea mussels where it lives out its life cycle. How it lives it's brilliant life cycle is first by luring a smallmouth bass over to it by copycatting the movement and the appearance of a Tartars fish tail which is actually the skin of the mussels which has over time evolved. Once the bass notices the lure and strikes the lure the muscle spews out a white cloud into the bass's mouth and gills which happen to be thousands of larvaes where they will live off the bass for nutrients. Its also safer for them to transition from larvae into juvenile mussels. After a couple of weeks the young mussels abandon the bass dropping leaving the basses unharmed and unaware of what happened making

First, the article states that pollution of ocean by industrial chemicals, oil rings caused to decrease otters' population. Otters cannot survive polluted ocean since their resistance ability cannot afford it. So, they died because of pollution. In contrast, the professor believes that pollution should kill other spicies in the ocean. However, population of other spicies is stable. Furthermore, there is no evidence that ocean is polluted. If ocean had been polluted, there would be huge effect on

In 2014, Excelsior Brewing Co. of Minnesota launched a beer with two unusual ingredients- Zebra Mussels and Eurasian Water Milfoil. The milfoil and the shells of the mussels in the beer don’t provide flavor, but are more for the novelty (Smith, 2014). But why would people ever pay money to drink beer with seaweed in it? To help get the Zebra Mussels and Eurasian Water Milfoil out of their lakes. These are two of the worst aquatic invasive species in Minnesota, and are a huge problem in lakes like Lake Minnetonka, where the milfoil and mussels were gathered for the novelty brew. If the issue with invasive species in Minnesota waters is not addressed, they could become a permanent part of our lakes, harming native species, as well as being very

The author states that there are reasons to believe that Zebra mussel's invasion cannot be stopped and poses a serious threat to fresh water fish population and provides three reasons. In contrast, the professor states that there are ways to control mussel's spread and he said that they could not stop the spread in the past because of lack of knoledge and he opposes each of the author's reason.

Zebra mussels are an extremely large species of mussels that are notorious for causing problems for animals, sea creatures, and even humans. They have the ability to cling and adhere to any man made, living, natural object, or creature when placed or growing in the acceptable conditions and habitat. Zebra mussels have many characteristics, traits, and ways of thriving, surviving, and of course, unknowingly creating problems for most of life on Earth. These fascinating and compelling critters have an intriguing story to tell about how they reached the U.S. and why they generate complications and issues for mankind and our environment.

With the increasing amount of disturbed habitats, invasive species could soon become the leading cause of ecological degradation (Soulé & Orians, 2001).  Invasive species can alter habitats in a number of ways.  Changes in the physical structure of the land are the most visually obvious.  Examples include narrowing stream channels, reducing sand supply to dunes, and stabilizing surfaces such as mudflats, and each invasive species goes about these changes in their own way.  For instance, the burrowing activities of Australian isopods cause the banks of tidal channels to collapse, leading to the widening of channels and the loss of vegetated salt marsh (Cox, 1999).  On the other hand, Japanese mussels that have invaded the San Diego area are stabilizing mudflats.  Although reaching Southern California in the 1960s,

First off, Because of their design with the razor sharp shells, Zebra Mussels is known to injure swimmers and people who walk on top of them. Another problem with the zebra Mussels is that they reproduce at an extremely rapid rate. Causing them to be uncontrollable in most instances. Zebra Mussels latch onto any solid object, and live perfect on any solid object. For example, they live and bread radically on boat ramps. (NOBANIS –Invasive Alien Species Fact Sheet) Making for boaters who are trying to unload their boat a more difficult job since they have to be more diligent when in the water next to them. Another problem with zebra mussels is that they compete with fish for food. Zebra mussels consume up to a liter of water a day, consuming tons of plankton and other microorganism. (Zebra Mussels (Dreissena

Have you ever seen a small, fingernail-sized animal that attach to solid surfaces in water? Adult dreissena polymorphazebra, also known as zebra mussels, can grow to 1/4 to 1-1/2 inches long and have D-shaped shells, they often have alternating yellow and brownish colored stripes. (Department of Natural Recources) These mussels arrived in the United States through ballast water in ships and have slowly spread throughout the freshwater lakes, since then they have known to become an invasive species, and raise questions on how and weather we should stop them or not.