Invasion
Invasion Description
1st Record: Muskegon/MI/Lake Michigan (2001, USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Program 2008)
Geographic Extent
Muskegon/MI/Lake Michigan (2001, USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Program 2008)
Vectors
| Level | Vector |
|---|---|
| Alternate | Ballast Water |
| Alternate | Hull Fouling |
Regional Impacts
| Ecological Impact | Competition | |
| By 2008, D. bugensis was the overwhelming dominant at a sampling site at 45 m depth, off Muskegon MI (Vanderploeg et al. 2010), where D. polymorpha was the sole dreissenid in 1999 (Nalepa et al. 2001). | ||
| Ecological Impact | Herbivory | |
| Grazing experiments with the 'profunda' morph of D. bugensis (from the 45m site off Musekegon MI) indicated that the filtering capacity of the mussel biomass in the 30-50 m zone exceeded the growth rate of the phytoplankton by several times, resulting in a disappearance of the spring bloom, and a nutrient sink, which decreased the resources available in deeper offshore waters (Vanderploeg et al. 2010). | ||
| Ecological Impact | Trophic Cascade | |
| Reduction of the phytoplankton sinking to the deeper parts of the lake bottom, as a result of Dreissena grazing, is a possible factor in the decline of the benthic amphipod Diporeia, a dominant deposit-feeder, and an important food for many great lakes fishes, including the commercially important Lake Whitefish (Coregonus clupeiformis) and Bloater (C. hoyi) (Vanderploeg et al. 2002). | ||