Why are zebra mussels a problem in the Great Lakes?
One of the most damaging impacts of zebra mussels is that they filter out algae needed for food by native species. Beyond that ecosystem impact, that are several other ways zebra mussels negatively affect the environment they invade: Cause cuts and scrapes for pets and people enjoying the waters.
What are three consequences of the zebra mussel population in the Great Lakes?
The ability of zebra mussels to attach onto a variety of surfaces means that they are able to blanket large portions of the lake floor and also disrupt water intake and outtake pipes at factories, power plants, irrigation systems and boats by inhabiting and eventually restricting the flow or completely blocking water …
How did zebra mussels affect lake Erie?
In any case, they have collectively eliminated most of Lake Erie’s large, native clams, reduced the foundation of the food chain, chronically reduced fish populations, continue to foul beaches with their shells, cling to unprotected boats and motors — and may have a role in the summer/fall harmful algae blooms.
How did zebra mussels affect the Great Lakes quizlet?
Zebra mussels can clog the water supply pipes to hydroelectric and nuclear power plants and to industrial facilities; Navigational buoys sometimes sink under the sheer weight of the zebra mussels attached to them. How severely are introduced species affecting the ecology of the Great Lakes?
How do zebra mussels affect fishing?
Zebra mussels feed on plankton, taking the nutrients from the lower levels of the water’s food chain. One zebra mussel can filter one quart of water per day. Along with their threats to the food chain, zebra mussels attach themselves to and kill native mussels. They can clog water intakes and encrust equipment.
What polluted the Great Lakes?
Pollution Sources runoff of soils and farm chemicals from agricultural lands. waste from cities. discharges from industrial areas. leachate from disposal sites.
Why are zebra mussels a problem in the Great Lakes quizlet?
Which of the following is a cause of habitat loss in the Great Lakes?
What is a cause of habitat loss in the Great Lakes? loss of forests and wetlands to industrial activity and housing development.
What eats zebra mussels in the Great Lakes?
Zebra mussels — the European shellfish clogging up water intakes throughout the Great Lakes in recent years — have a natural enemy: the common sheepshead. The humble freshwater drum — better known to anglers here as the sheepshead — eats zebra mussels by the bucketful, a Buffalo State College researcher says.
How does pollution impact the Great Lakes?
As plastic pollution breaks down in the Great Lakes, microscopic pieces of plastic are found in the lakes and even treated drinking water. More than 22 million pounds of plastic pollution end up in the Great Lakes every year, according to the Rochester Institute of Technology. And, it never really goes away.
What was the source of zebra mussels in the Great Lakes quizlet?
Zebra mussels first entered North America in about 1986, when foreign ships apparently dumped the larvae with ballast water into Lake St. Clair; Within six years, zebra mussels had spread to all the Great Lakes and had entered eight large river systems.