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Keyword
Student researchReaders/Advisors
Kiyoko, YokotaLord, Paul
Date Published
2023
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Invasive mussels, quagga mussels (Dreissena bugensis) and zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha), were collected from Otsego Lake, NY throughout most of 2021. Zebra mussels were first introduced to the lake in 2008 and were able to establish themselves prior to the introduction of quagga mussels in 2019. These mussels disrupt the lake ecosystem and are associated with harmful cyanobacterial blooms. We were interested in tracking how the new invader, quagga mussels, established itself and competed with the earlier invader, zebra mussels. Using mussel sampler plates, we aimed to evaluate the survival and development of the quagga and zebra mussels on new substrates. Plate samplers were placed at three different depths, 7.62 meters (25 feet), 12.19 meters th (40 feet), and 21.34 meters (70 feet). The plates were deployed on June 17 , 2021, and retrieved on th October 17 , 2021. The mussels were then scraped off each the plates and washed with lake water over a mesh net to collect any smaller mussels that might have fallen off. They were placed in 70% ethanol and then brought back to the lab to be identified, sized, and aged. The data will then be used to determine if one species is outcompeting the other species within the lake. The previous wintertime sample set from this study showed that the quagga mussels were outcompeting the zebra mussels over the winter. This set of samples is from the summer time to see if the quagga mussels are still outcompeting zebra mussels. Overall, the quagga mussels are in greater densities than the zebra mussels at all three depths for this sample set, with the greatest difference in the deepest depth. The average age of the quagga mussels was younger than the zebra mussels, and the average length of the quagga mussels collected were smaller than that of the zebra mussels.