Xref: utzoo alt.great-lakes:835 sci.bio:5047 Path: utzoo!utgpu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!cis.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!ohstpy!miavx1!jahayes From: jahayes@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu Newsgroups: alt.great-lakes,sci.bio Subject: Zebra Mussels Message-ID: <5320.28422789@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu> Date: 28 May 91 14:48:57 GMT References: Followup-To: alt.great-lakes,sci.bio Lines: 53 Hey! Something I know about! In article , emv@msen.com (Ed Vielmetti) writes: > > Some questions: > > - what's the scientific name of the zebra mussel? Dreissena polymorpha > - who is doing research on them these days? I'd expect it would be a > hot topic, given their potential economic impacts on the Great Lakes > region, but a cursory search of the literature didn't yield any hits > on "zebra". Funny you should mention that. The annual meeting of the International Association of Great Lakes Researchers (IAGLR) is June 2-6 in Buffalo. I'm attending (and presenting a poster which has nothing to do with zebra mussels). There are two symposia (sessions 4A and 5A) titled: "Progress in zebra mussel research in the Great Lakes Basin" (I and II). These presumably have the stuff you're interested in. I can post talk titles if there is interest; e-mail me if you want 'em. > - these things are supposed to be widespread in Europe. How do they > cope with them there? There is some interesting speculation that predators are adapted to deal with them there. The zebra mussel evolved in an ecosystem that was in some sense co-evolving with it. Here, it's an introduction, and the specialized predators that presumably exist in Europe do not necessarily exist here, and if they do, might not yet have figured out that these things are food. I have heard reports that both migrant and overwintering waterfowl have had a spectacularly good year, which maybe suggests that this new food source has found its way into the food chain. I also understand that the negative effects associated with the mussels, especially the clogged water intakes, are nowhere near as bad has people had expected them to be. It's still too bad, but it may not be disastrous. BTW, it is suspected that the veligers (larvae) of the mussels came over in ships from Europe which then pumped their ballast tanks here. Oops. > > thanks. > No problem. > > -- > Edward Vielmetti, vice president for research, MSEN Inc. emv@msen.com Josh Hayes, Zoology, Miami of Ohio jahayes@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu