"Poster Child" for Exotics

From September, 1996 (Update #28)

A Volkswagen has been placed in Lake Erie near the Ohio State University Stone Laboratory to become part of a national exhibit on endangered species . The car, which was lowered into the water in late June, is expected to be covered with zebra mussels when it is removed from the lake in October. It will then be shipped to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, where it will become part of an exhibit that opens in March 1997. Ohio Sea Grant and Stone Laboratory personnel will assist in the effort. "The purpose of this component of the show - the exotic species portion - is to illustrate how introduced species can affect the web of ecological relationships in their new home," American Museum of Natural History Curator Ross MacPhee said. "The zebra/quagga mussel exhibit is not alone," he said. "The other 'poster child' in our show is the Nile perch. We're showing its effect on cichlid diversity in Lake Victoria. But we needed a 'local' story, and zebra mussels have more cachet than kudzu, which they regrettably resemble in growth habit.".

ID: 199609-5.

The Zebra Mussel Update was a 4- to 8-page quarterly national newsletter published by the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute from May 1990 through May 1997. The ZMU documented the spread of the zebra mussel -- an exotic nuisance mussel -- through North America's freshwater environments, especially the Great Lakes, and on efforts to control it.