Potassium's Lethal Potential Reported at International Sea G

rant Conference

From January 31, 1991 (update #6)

COLUMBUS, Ohio Potassium compounds appear to be acutely toxic to settled zebra mussels, according to an Ohio State University researcher. During an international regional zebra mussel research conference here Dec. 5-7, OSU aquatic toxicologist Susan Fisher announced that potassium ions released by such compounds as potassium phosphate and phosphate chloride are toxic to settled zebra mussels. These initial observations were made in laboratory studies. More extensive tests of potassium toxicity to other aquatic organisms are planned along with investigations of the potential for large-scale applications of such compounds to control nuisance levels of zebra mussels. Another noteworthy finding reported at the conference, hosted by Ohio Sea Grant, was the observation by OSU zoologist Dave Garton that fewer zebra mussel larvae were found in western Lake Erie during the summer of 1990 than in summer 1989, and that their densities only peaked once in 1990 vs. twice in 1989. This contrasts with the finding of greater densities of zebra mussel larvae in eastern Lake Erie in 1990 vs. 1989 reported by Howard Riessen, zoologist at the State University of New York College at Buffalo. Differences in summer water temperatures or differences in adult densities were raised as possible explanations for these differences. Many other investigators reported other observations on the biology and ecology of zebra mussels. It was obvious from these observations that scientists currently can make few confident predictions about the ultimate impact of zebra mussels on North American ecosystems or on the populations of particularly important components of those ecosystems. Conference abstracts are available for $2 from the Ohio Sea Grant College Program, The Ohio State University, 1314 Kinnear Rd., Columbus, OH 43212-1194.

ID: 19910131-9.

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.