![]() ![]() There aren’t any short-term ways to get rid of blue-green algae blooms, either. Instead, authorities have tried to limit their movement by urging people to keep their boats and equipment clean as they move from one water body to another. Natives of Eurasia, zebra mussels have spread steadily since their discovery in the Great Lakes in 1988 because there are no effective natural predators here to stop them. “They’re 10 times worse than zebra mussels,” Fahnenstiel said. They aren’t believed to have reached Minnesota’s inland lakes yet, but they’re not that far away. In addition, he said, they don’t need as hard a material to attach themselves as do zebra mussels. They’ve taken over parts of the Great Lakes, spread to many interior lakes in Michigan and elsewhere, and have even been transported to lakes west of the Continental Divide.įahnenstiel, a senior ecologist for NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab in Michigan, said they outcompete zebra mussels because they can filter water of organisms better and they can withstand colder temperatures and deeper water. Right behind zebra mussels lurk another non-native intruder - quagga mussels. If that sounds a bit dire, it gets even worse, according to Fahnenstiel. … But it underscores the fact we don’t want these things spreading, we don’t want them moved around.” “It takes the right combination of large numbers of zebra mussels and the right nutrient balance. “That’s not to say when you have zebra mussels, you are going to have blue-green dominating systems,” he added. “This spring has been a not-so-banner year for new zebra mussel infestations,” conceded Montz, a research scientist for the DNR’s division of ecological services. After years of experiencing only one or two newly infested lakes a year, Minnesota is being hit harder than normal this year, with zebra mussels found so far in four of them. The small striped mollusks have spread to hundreds of inland lakes and rivers, including more than a dozen in Minnesota. “The seaway turned North America into a foreign beachhead for invasive critters,” said Alexander, also a communications specialist for the National Wildlife Federation who devoted part of his book to the connection between blue-green algae and zebra mussels. Zebra mussels and many other harmful non-native species entered the Great Lakes in vessels that used the seaway. “That is a really bad and frustrating situation for anyone who lives on a lake or spends time on a lake.” “Where zebra mussels go, these blue-green algae blooms tend to follow,” he said, noting an apparent increase in the number and severity of blue-green algae blooms in Michigan. “It is sort of a counterintuitive problem - clean lakes and toxic algae blooms,” said Jeff Alexander, author of “Pandora’s Locks,” a book assessing the implications of the St. Now the problem: Zebra mussels like to eat beneficial green algae, but they don’t like another strain called blue-green algae, according to Gary Montz of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and Gary Fahnenstiel of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.Īs a result, zebra-mussel infested lakes can wind up with a disproportionate amount of blue-green algae that sometimes gets out of control, scientists said. The more zebra mussels in a lake, the greater the volume that’s filtered or consumed. Zebra mussels filter water of tiny organisms such as algae, which are microscopic aquatic plants. The foul-smelling blooms, resembling scummy lime-green paint, usually happen in mid- to late summer when water temperatures are highest. Sometimes, those blooms become toxic, causing farm animals or dogs that consume any of it to get sick or die. “It’s certainly another confounding factor,” said Steve Heiskary, a research scientist for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.Įvery year, blue-green algae blooms occur across central and southern Minnesota, typically in shallow lakes with high concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus from animal waste or vegetative decomposition. ![]() And instead of pinning the blame on excess nutrients that typically cause them, scientists are looking squarely at zebra mussels as a trigger. In Michigan, where zebra mussels have infested more than 200 lakes, blue-green algae blooms - the kind that can make people sick and have killed animals that drink the water - are enjoying a resurgence of sorts. ![]() As if there aren’t enough reasons to keep zebra mussels out of Minnesota lakes, add one more: toxic blue-green algae blooms.Ī recent spike in state lakes infested with the non-native mussel has scientists mindful of an emerging - and unwelcome - connection. ![]()
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