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Physical and chemical properties determine zebra mussel invasion success in lakes

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Abstract

To address the question whether the abundance of an invasive species can be explained by physical and chemical properties of the invaded ecosystems, we gathered density data of invasive zebra mussels and the physical and chemical data of ecosystems they invaded. We assembled published data from 55 European and 13 North American lakes and developed a model for zebra mussel density using a generalized additive model (GAM) approach. Our model revealed that the joint effect of surface area, total phosphorus and calcium concentrations explained 62% of the variation in Dreissena density. Our study indicates that large and less productive North American lakes can support larger local populations of zebra mussels. Our results suggest that the proliferation of an exotic species in an area can partially be explained by physical and chemical properties of the recipient environment.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Tomasz Muller, Marcin Czarnołęski, Anna Stańczykowska, Peter Stangel, Frances Lucy, Kristen Holeck, Lyubov E. Burlakova, Alexander Y. Karatayev, James Haynes, Ruurd Noordhuis, Chuck Madenjian, Guy Fleischer, Ellen Marsden, Robert Douglas Hunter, Miguel Dionisio Pires, Joseph C. Makarewicz and Joe Ho for help in providing the data. We also thank Drs. Lars Rudstam, Luis M. Bini and Edward Mills for their many constructive comments that improved this paper. This research was funded by The Swedish Research Council and the Malméns Foundation to Rahmat Naddafi and The Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning to Peter Eklöv.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Evolution/Erken Laboratory, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Norr Malma 4200, 76173, Norrtälje, Sweden

    Rahmat Naddafi & Kurt Pettersson

  2. Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE-90183, Umeå, Sweden

    Rahmat Naddafi

  3. Baltic Nest Institute, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, 10691, Stockholm, Sweden

    Thorsten Blenckner

  4. Department of Ecology and Evolution/Limnology, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Box 573, SE-751 23, Uppsala, Sweden

    Peter Eklöv

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  1. Rahmat Naddafi
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  4. Kurt Pettersson
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Correspondence to Rahmat Naddafi.

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Handling editor: Luis Mauricio Bini

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Naddafi, R., Blenckner, T., Eklöv, P. et al. Physical and chemical properties determine zebra mussel invasion success in lakes. Hydrobiologia 669, 227–236 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-011-0689-1

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