Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-9-2014
Publication Title
PLoS-ONE
Disciplines
Biology
Abstract
Determining when and where the ecological impacts of invasive species will be most detrimental and whether the effects of multiple invaders will be superadditive, or subadditive, is critical for developing global management priorities to protect native species in advance of future invasions. Over the past century, the decline of freshwater bivalves of the family Unionidae has been greatly accelerated by the invasion of Dreissena. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the current infestation rates of unionids by zebra (Dreissena polymorpha) and quagga (D. rostriformis bugensis) mussels in the lower Great Lakes region 25 years after they nearly extirpated native unionids. In 2011–2012, we collected infestation data for over 4000 unionids from 26 species at 198 nearshore sites in lakes Erie, Ontario, and St. Clair, the Detroit River, and inland Michigan lakes and compared those results to studies from the early 1990s. We found that the frequency of unionid infestation by Dreissena recently declined, and the number of dreissenids attached to unionids in the lower Great Lakes has fallen almost ten-fold since the early 1990s. We also found that the rate of infestation depends on the dominant Dreissena species in the lake: zebra mussels infested unionids much more often and in greater numbers. Consequently, the proportion of infested unionids, as well as the number and weight of attached dreissenids were lower in waterbodies dominated by quagga mussels. This is the first large-scale systematic study that revealed how minor differences between two taxonomically and functionally related invaders may have large consequences for native communities they invade.
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0114926
Version
Publisher's PDF
Publisher's Statement
Open Access
Recommended Citation
Burlakova, L. E., B. L. Tulumello, A. Y. Karatayev, R. A. Krebs, D. W. Schloesser, D. T. Zanatta, W.L. Paterson, T. A. Griffith, M. W. Scott, and T. Crail. 2014. Competitive replacement of invasive congeners may relax impact on native species: interactions among zebra, quagga, and native unionid mussels. PLOS-ONE 9(12): e114926 doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0114926
Comments
Funding support came from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (US FWS) via the Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Restoration Act (GLFWRA, project #30191-A-G152). Support for B. Tulumello was also provided by an NSF URM award #0731582 to C. M. Pennuto (SUNY Buffalo State), and L. Burlakova was supported in part by Research Foundation of SUNY.