Zebra Mussels 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

Eelgrass beds in particular are being harmed where European green crabs are abundant, because they are the primary habitats for this invasive species. The European green crabs invade these eel grass beds when they are searching for prey in the matter that has settled at the bottom of the water or excavating to make burrows, this is done by cutting the roots of the eelgrass, which destroys this ecological habitat. European green crabs have preyed on various marine life such as species of mollusks, crustaceans and fish. The primary species that European green crabs prey upon being shellfish. Shellfish (oyster, clam and scallops) being their primary source of nutrition (GOV, 2016) is an issue because they then create competition for food amongst other species such as lobster and crabs which are native to the habitat the European green crab has invaded. Their secondary source of nutrition comes from crustaceans such as crab, crayfish, lobster, prawns or shrimp. Additionally, Studies have shown that European green crabs will prey upon Dungeness crabs of equal or lesser size (Peters et al. 2004). This means that European green crabs are capable of displacing other crabs in the competition for space, food and habitat. Recently, a study was conducted which showed a 40% drop in Manila clam harvest since the European green crabs’ arrival in North America (pleus, 2017). Carcinus maenas

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.

First of all, Zebra mussel disrupt the food chain. In the Great lakes, zebra mussels eat the plankton that small, native fish need to survive. Consequently, this hurts the native fish and the larger fish that feed them.

Introduced species are seldom a positive addition to an ecosystem as they cause great stress and harm to the populations of native species. Many introduced species become invasive as they have no natural predators in their new environment, therefore they thrive, and crowd out all other animals. Some examples of invasive species in Ontario waters include the round goby, zebra mussels, eurasian ruffe, goldfish, northern snakehead, rainbow smelt, and rudd, to name a few. A great example to show how destructive an introduced fish can be is the asian carp, this species spreads very aggressively and it is considered the greatest threat to aquatic ecosystems in Ontario. These fish grow to be very large in size, up to 40 kg and 1 meter long. The asian

A Marine Biologist Will be a Right Careen Scientist for You ! Marine biologist are scientist that study water bodies, performing a number of duties that vary by the specific job. They may research experiment or create plans for action to improve and sustain aquatic life, healthy, and productive. Marine biologist spend many hours in oceans, lakes and rivers studying plants and animals, in addition to the time spent in the classroom learning about the sciences applicable to marine biology. Marine scientist study and analyze ocean ecology and aquatic life.

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

“They see something, walk up to it, pick it up, and maybe beat the crap out of it,” says Justin Marshall, referring to a commonly unknown creature called the Mantis Shrimp. This species often goes overlooked and unnoticed by most of the world and not just because it only grows 2-7 inches (“Peacock Mantis Shrimp” 1). Since it is such an unknown animal, many people do not know what it is or what makes it remarkable. How can the small mantis shrimp, a crustacean whose appearance is more like that of a clown than a ferocious beast, be worth noting in the different fields of science? They are more interesting than they seem. Mantis shrimp possess a vast array of fascinating physical features that set them apart from other sea-dwelling animals: their clubs

Invasive species have been brought into the United States, some on purpose to help fill a needed use and then latter getting out of control and creating a mess of what they have done to waterways,

On a global scale the problem is more severe. Across the tropics, mantas are now being killed for human food as well as for their gill rakers, the cleansing plates that filter plankton from the ocean. Manta and mobula gill rakers are the latest snake oil cure-all in China, touted as a remedy that cleanses the body of everything from gout to cancer. The organization Manta Ray of Hope, which

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.

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,