The spread of invasive quagga and zebra mussels in the Great Lakes has wreaked havoc on Great Lakes food chains.
In Lake Erie, diatom abundance Quagga and zebra mussels spread quickly. Though zebra mussels have garnered the majority of public and research attention, quagga mussels have a more extensive distribution in the Great Lakes and their abundance far exceeds that of the zebra mussel peak (e.g., southern Lake Michigan, Nalepa et al. Since that time, the mussels have spread to many eastern waterways, rivers, and lakes. In the Great Lakes, large populations of zebra mussels have significantly reduced the biomass of phytoplankton. Researchers say they believe they may have finally found a safe, effective means of combating one of the Great Lakes' most persistent and damaging aquatic invaders — zebra and quagga mussels. 1993). By the end of the year, zebra mussels had turned up all across the Great Lakes, west to Duluth, south to Chicago, east to the St. Lawrence River below Lake Ontario. Expansion to inland waters continues at an alarming rate. A … Within one year, they colonized nearly every firm object in Lake Erie. By 1990, the zebra mussels had colonized the five Great Lakes. Quagga and zebra mussels are two closely related mussel species that were introduced to the Great Lakes in the 1980s. Ballast water discharge from transoceanic ships is thought to be responsible for the long distance spread of zebra and quagga mussels from their original home ranges in eastern Europe. Zebra mussels ( Dreissena polymorpha) were first discovered in the Great Lakes in 1988. 2010). They may be behind a startling decline in … Quagga mussels were first found in the USA in the Great Lakes in 1989, Nevada in 2007, and California in 2008. Quagga mussels, on the other hand, are native to the Dnieper River in the Ukraine and first turned up in the Great Lakes … Zebra mussels also disrupt the ecosystems they invade. Zebra mussels may shift lakes from a turbid, phytoplankton-dominated state to a clear and macrophyte-dominated state (Scheffer et al. Zebra mussels quickly spread to parts of all the Great Lakes.