The European population of Greater Scaup Aythya marila has experienced an alarming, ~60% decline in numbers over the last two decades. The brackish lagoons of the Odra River Estuary (ORE) in the south-western Baltic Sea, represent an important area for the species during the non-breeding season in Europe. The lagoons regularly support over 20 000 Scaup, with peaks exceeding 100 000 (38%-70% of ...

Azadinium spinosum, a small toxic dinoflagellate, was recently isolated and identified as a primary producer of azaspiracid toxins (AZAs). Previous experiments related to AZA accumulation in blue mussels upon direct feeding with A. spinosum revealed increased mussel mortality and had negative effects on the thickness of the digestive gland tubules. Therefore we conducted follow up experiments i...

The aim of the study was to evaluate effects on exterior and interior egg quality and sensory characteristics of eggs from hens fed diets with admixtures of 3.5 or 7.0% of mussel meal or 20% wheat-distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS). The mussel meal diets followed organic standards, whereas the DDGS diet was formulated for hens in conventional production. Standard diets, one organic an...

but then leaves us with the vague and unsatisfying conclusion: “The influence of temperature on unionoids is thus pervasive and complicated, so it is not easy to specify the optimal thermal regime for a unionoid” (p. 55). This is mostly a writing style issue, but it does tend to overstate somewhat the extent of our ignorance about several topics in mussel ecology. Part II also contains a number...

We consider a known model that describes formation of mussel beds on soft sediments. The model consists of nonlinearly coupled pdes that capture evolution of mussel biomass on the sediment and algae in the water layer overlying the mussel bed. The system accounts for the diffusive spread of mussel, while the diffusion of algae is neglected and at the same time the tidal flow of the water is con...

Mussels are commonly used in cooking around the world. The mussel shell breaks more easily than other shells, and the edge of the broken mussel shell is sharp. Impaction can ultimately cause erosion, perforation and fistula. Aside from these complications, the pain can be very intense. Therefore, it is essential to verify and remove the shell as soon as possible. In this report we describe the ...

This experimental microcosm study reports the influence of organic enrichments by mussel biodeposits on the metabolic activity and functional diversity of benthic prokaryotic communities. The different biodeposit enrichment regimes created, which mimicked the quantity of faeces and pseudo-faeces potentially deposited below mussel farms, show a clear stimulatory effect of this organic enrichment...

We reviewed the scientific literature addressing physiological constraints of zebra mussel and found seven studies that measured the effects of water calcium concentrations (mg/l, hereafter Ca) on zebra mussel development and growth (Jones and Ricciardi 2005, Allen and Ramcharan 2001, Hincks and Mackie 1997, Mellina and Rasmussen 1994, Ramcharan et al 1992, Strayer 1991, Sprung 1987). A 95% con...

IntroductionMaterials & MethodsChemicalsGreen mussel collection and preparation of tissue homogenatesGreen mussel tissue extraction and human cell-based bioassayPOPs and heavy metal analysisData analysisResultsEndocrine activities of the mussel samplesBiological parameters and contaminant levels in green musselsStatistical analysisDiscussionSe...

It has recently been hypothesized that intertidal mussel beds and seaweed canopies in the Gulf of Maine are alternate community stable states or disturbance patch mosaics dominated by either seaweed or mussel communities. The community that occurs in a given site is proposed to be stochastic and dependent on the size of the original disturbance and subsequent recruit availability. Large disturb...