Invasion
Invasion Description
1st Record: Niagara-on-the-Lake/Ontario/Lake Ontario (1991, USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Program 2008)
Geographic Extent
Niagara-on-the-Lake/Ontario /Lake Ontario (1991, USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Program 2008); Rochester/NY/Lake Ontario (1991, USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Program 2008); Cape Vincent/NY/Lake Ontario (1991, USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Program 2008); Youngstown/NY/Lake Ontario (1991, USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Program 2008)
Vectors
| Level | Vector |
|---|---|
| Alternate | Ballast Water |
| Alternate | Hull Fouling |
| Alternate | Natural Dispersal |
Regional Impacts
| Ecological Impact | Competition | |
| Replacement of Zebra Mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) by Quagga Mussels (D. bugensis) in deeper water (>25 m) of Lake Ontario, off Oswego, NY was seen as early as 1994 (Mills et al. 1996). Replacement of Zebra Mussels by Quagga Mussels resulted in a decrease (up to 90%) of the number of dreissenids attached to native unionid mussels in Lakes Ontario, Erie, and St. Clair (Burlakova et al. 2014). | ||
| Ecological Impact | Trophic Cascade | |
| Quagga Mussels (Dreissena bugensis ) now domijnate phoisphoirus cycling in the lower Great Lakes.. 'The tissues and shells of quagga mussels now contain nearly as much phosphorus as the entire water columns of the impacted Great Lakes' (Li et al. 2021) | ||