Maps showing the density of quagga and zebra mussels in Lake Michigan reveal how quagga mussels have nearly entirely replaced zebra mussels in several Great Lakes. “I hate to be pessimistic, but I think it’s realistic.” “We’re thinking diligence, diligence, diligence, but at some point you cannot control every boat, every angler, every kayaker,” Marsden said. In Montana, another dreissenid-free state, the mussels could cost $234 million in mitigation efforts and lost revenue.ĭespite the high stakes and immense precaution, they’re likely to continue spreading. ![]() While the reported $60,000 price tag for training the dog might seem steep, it’s a bargain compared to the projected $300 million dollars per year an invasion could cost hydroelectric facilities in the basin. A quagga-sniffing dog in Washington recently identified invasive mussels human inspectors had twice missed on a boat traveling through the Columbia River basin. Quagga mussels spread slower but no less persistently.īoth mussels can spread by hitching rides on boats and are often so small that human inspectors miss them. By 1992, they had reached the Gulf Coast via the Mississippi River, and by 2008 they were in California. Zebra mussels had been discovered outside the Great Lakes basin in 1991, just three years after they arrived. If the dreissenid invasion of the Great Lakes was spreading awareness and preparedness across the country, it was also spreading mussels. It was the impetus for a 1996 law called the National Invasive Species Act, which established task forces across the country to prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species. While initially a local problem, the arrival of dreissenid mussels had a huge impact on the way the United States thought about aquatic invasive species. That meant more habitat for invasive mussels that could filter out plankton and algae, disrupting the base of the Great Lakes food chain. Later, it became clear that quagga mussels would replace zebra mussels and could live much deeper than them. Scientists were not sure at that point how the mussel would affect the Great Lakes. While zebra mussels had been invasive through much of Europe and well known by the time they reached the Great Lakes, the soon-to-be-named quagga mussel had been largely ignored since its discovery in 1897. It was not immediately clear what the new species was. “That was the discovery that there were two species,” Marsden said. They found one individual with genes that did not fit. When Marsden and a colleague collected the first quagga mussel in the Great Lakes system, they were studying zebra mussel genetics. (Photo courtesy of Greg Marks/NOAA) The invasive species that changed the game ![]() Quagga mussels from fish trawl sample in Lake Michigan, August 2006. Collection 4 – Lesson Plans from Our Monthly PBS Program.Collection 3 – Virtual Field Trips in the Great Lakes.Collection 2 – Threats to the Great Lakes.Collection 1 – An Exploration of the Great Lakes.Beneath the Surface: The Line 5 Pipeline in the Great Lakes.Politics, Policy, Environmental Justice.The Catch: News about the Lakes You Love. ![]() Ask the Great Lakes Now Team Your PFAS Question.Ask Your Question About the Great Lakes.
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