Invasion
Invasion Description
1st Record: Ruthven/Union Water Treatment Plant (4.8 km east of Kingsville)/Ontario/Lake Erie (summer 1987, Carlton 2008)
Geographic Extent
Ruthven:Union Water Treatment Plant (4.8 km east of Kingsville)/Ontario/Lake Erie (summer 1987, Carlton 2008); Kingsville/Ontario/Lake Erie (summer 1987, Carlton 2008, on commercial fishing boat); at Put-In-Bay, South Bass Island/OH/Lake Erie (1988, USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Program 2012)
Vectors
| Level | Vector |
|---|---|
| Probable | Ballast Water |
Regional Impacts
| Ecological Impact | Herbivory | |
| In the western basin of Lake Erie, average chlorophyll a concentrations declined by 43% from 1988 to 1989, with the onset of the Zebra Mussel invasion (Leach 1993). Filtration by Zebra Mussels was selective- mussels ingested small, desirable flagellates, while rejecting large colonies of toxic Microcystis cyanobacteria in western Lake Erie water (Vanderploeg et al. 2001). | ||
| Ecological Impact | Habitat Change | |
| Although the light conditions and substrate of the lake's rocky reefs had been greatly altered, no change was seen in the spawning of Walleye (Sander vitreum), an important commercial and sport fish (Leach 1993). | ||
| Ecological Impact | Competition | |
| In the western basin of Lake Erie, fouling by Zebra Mussels was reported to cause a complete disappearance of native unionid mussels (Schloesser 1996; Schloesser and Nalepa 1994, cited by Ricciardi et al.1998). | ||