Temperature/Salinity Tolerance and Salt Regulation in the larvae of Dreissena polymorphaThe zebra mussel invasion, first evident in Lake St. Clair in 1988, has spread rapidly through the Great Lakes and into rivers in North America. The effects have already been overwhelming for some aquatic ecosystems as well as industries which depend on water use.Zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) colonies have flourished in water intake pipes to thicknesses that have been measured in feet-the costs to remove these mussels have been extraordinarily high. The mussels have also had a profound impact on food webs, outcompeting other filter-feeding organisms, and physically swamping bottom-dwelling animals by their shell production and their copious deposits of feces and mucus. Just how much of an impact zebra mussels can have on the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem will likely depend on temperature and salinity conditions. Though considered a freshwater organism, zebra mussels have also grown well in brackish waters. To date, no detailed information on the tolerance of zebra mussels to temperature-salinity combinations found in the Bay is available. In this project, David Wright and Victor Kennedy are investigating the environmental tolerance of larvae in order to produce a predictive set of relationships that relate combinations of temperature salinity to mussel growth and survival. Such information will provide resource management agencies-with a solid basis for developing protective measures to limit the spread of these organisms. |
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David A. Wright
Chesapeake Biological Laboratory University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science Victor S. Kennedy Horn Point Laboratory University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science |
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