What we know and don’t know about the invasive zebra (Dreissena polymorpha) and quagga (Dreissena rostriformis bugensis) mussels

Time Scales of Ecosystem Impacts and Recovery Under Individual and Serial Invasions

“…However, the declines in mussel impacts we observe happened synchronously across lakes and are not consistent with stochastic events such as new invaders or anoxic conditions. Demographic processes within the invading population and functional or numerical responses by native molluscivores may happen across systems (Karatayev and Burlakova 2022) on similar time scales, and we therefore suggest . Zebra mussel invasion corresponds to significant long-term changes in ecosystem variables across six polymictic lakes in Europe and North America.…”

“…Zebra mussels and quagga mussels exemplify widespread invaders that increasingly co-occur in waterbodies. Both species have high reproductive and dispersal potential, often comprise a large portion of animal biomass in invaded ecosystems (Mills and others 1996;Pollux and others 2010;Benson 2014;others 2015, Karatayev andBurlakova 2022), and represent two of the most aggressive freshwater invaders others 2002, 2015). Zebra mussels exhibit faster landscape-level spread than quagga mussels, which often invade waterbodies that already have established zebra mussel populations others 2011, 2015;Strayer and others 2019).…”

“…Zebra mussels exhibit faster landscape-level spread than quagga mussels, which often invade waterbodies that already have established zebra mussel populations others 2011, 2015;Strayer and others 2019). As highly efficient suspension feeders, both dreissenid species are powerful ecosystem engineers that restructure energy flows from pelagic to ben-thic habitats and create complex substrates (Karatayev and others ;Gutie ´rrez and others 2003;Zhu and others 2006;Sousa and others 2009;Higgins and Vander Zanden 2010;Karatayev and Burlakova 2022). Despite this, the magnitude, pace, and interaction of impacts caused by these introduced species remain obscure because long-term ecosystem studies are rare and typically analyzed separately for each system, which confounds invasion impacts with many coincident environmental changes.…”

Environmental DNA survey indicates arrival of quagga mussel in Ticino River basin

“…Alternatively, the quagga mussel could have arrived earlier but remained at low densities, preventing detection before this study. This scenario seems less likely because physical and chemical conditions (e.g., temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, calcium) in lakes Lugano and Maggiore are potentially suitable for a rapid growth of quagga mussel populations (Karatayev and Burlakova, 2022).…”

“…Biological invasions have increased during the last decades due to international trade and tourism (Hulme et al, 2009). The quagga mussel Dreissena rostriformis bugensis Andrusov, 1897, is a highly invasive bivalve native to the Dnieper-Bug basin within the Ponto-Caspian region that started spreading in North America since the late 1980s (Mills et al, 1993) and in western Europe since the mid-2000s (Heiler et al, 2013;Karatayev and Burlakova, 2022). Invasions by dreissenid mussels can have significant ecological and economic impacts because they alternative communities and clog water pipes and other infrastructure (Connelly et al, 2007;Karatayev et al, 2015).…”