As An Invasive Species
The native distribution of the species is in the Black Sea and Caspian Sea in Eurasia. Zebra mussels have become an invasive species in North America, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Spain, and Sweden. They disrupt the ecosystems by monotypic colonization, and damage harbors and waterways, ships and boats, and water treatment and power plants. Water treatment plants are most impacted because the water intakes bring the microscopic free-swimming larvae directly into the facilities. The Zebra Mussels also cling on to pipes under the water and clog them.
Grossinger reported it in Hungary in 1794. Kerney and Morton described the rapid colonization of Britain by the zebra mussel, first in Cambridgeshire in the 1820s, London in 1824, and in the Union Canal near Edinburgh in 1834. In 1827 zebra mussels were seen in the Netherlands at Rotterdam. Canals that artificially link many European waterways facilitated their early dispersal. It is non-indigenous in the Czech Republic in Elbe river in Bohemia since 1893; in southern Moravia is probably native. Around 1920 the mussels reached Lake Mälaren in Sweden.
The first Italian appearance of the organism was in northern Italy in Lake Garda in 1973; in central Italy they appeared in Tuscany in 2003.
Zebra mussels are also present in British waterways. Many water companies are reporting having problems with their water treatment plants with the mussels attaching themselves to pipeworks. Anglian Water has estimated that it costs £500,000 to remove the mussels from their treatment plants. It has been argued that Zebra Mussels also have had an effect on fish populations, with dwindling fish populations in areas such as Salford Quays.
Read more about this topic: Zebra Mussel
Famous quotes containing the words invasive and/or species:
“The frequency of personal questions grows in direct proportion to your increasing girth. . . . No one would ask a man such a personally invasive question as Is your wife having natural childbirth or is she planning to be knocked out? But someone might ask that of you. No matter how much you wish for privacy, your pregnancy is a public event to which everyone feels invited.”
—Jean Marzollo (20th century)
“Thus all probable reasoning is nothing but a species of sensation. Tis not solely in poetry and music, we must follow our taste and sentiment, but likewise in philosophy, When I am convincd of any principle, tis only an idea which strikes more strongly upon me. When I give the preference to one set of arguments above another, I do nothing but decide from my feeling concerning the superiority of their influence.”
—David Hume (17111776)