Collected Papers on Zebra Mussels in Saginaw Bay

From May, 1996 (Update #27)

A special section of the Journal of Great Lakes Research (JGLR) includes results of coordinated studies conducted during the early years of the zebra mussel invasion of Lake Huron's Saginaw Bay. The studies were largely conducted by scientists at the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) at Ann Arbor in collaboration with scientists funded by several other agencies. The results, which can be found in volume 21, No. 4, of the JGLR, provide a uniquely comprehensive look at the early ecosystem effects of zebra mussels. Papers document broad temporal and spatial changes in water quality parameters, primary production, nutrients, and submersed aquatic plants and benthic algae. Other studies report impacts on planktonic bacteria, protozoa and nutrient dynamics. In a preface to the articles, GLERL scientists Tom Nalepa and Gary Fahnenstiel note that the studies "illustrate the dramatic and immediate impact Dreissena can have on a given ecosystem." Water quality measurements in Saginaw Bay over the past 20 years show three distinct phases: pre-phosphorus control, post-phosphorus control and post-zebra mussel. The preface continues: "Given findings in Saginaw Bay, the establishment of Dreissena has long-term implications when defining ecosystem response to management actions. For one, eutrophication models that link nutrient loadings and pelagic measures of water quality are no longer valid in areas with large populations of Dreissena.".

ID: 199605-8.

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.