An array of vectors have been identified that pose a risk spreading invasive alien species (IAS), from personal protective equipment to large such as vehicles and boats. Biosecurity practices remove and/or kill IAS reduce the accidental spread. The effectiveness biosecurity protocols suitable for is little tested requires development. One widely-used method high-pressure hot water spray machine...

Dreissena po ymorpha, the zebra mussel, originated in the Caspian and Black Sea basin, and has invaded waterbodies of the Former Soviet Union FSU), eastern, and western Europe during the last 200 years. Since 1771 more than 2,000 papers on the distribution, taxonomy, biol gy, ecology, and control of species and subspecies of Dreissena were published in Russia and FSU, however. this work has not...

We report the results of a two-year study in the Svisloch River (Minsk, Belarus) on the dynamics of infection in Dreissena polymorpha by nematodes and three ciliate species Conchophthirus acuminatus, Ophryoglena sp., and Ancistrumina limnica. Although these endosymbionts were present in most of the samples, their prevalence and infection intensity differed significantly. C. acuminatus and A. li...

The generalization that quagga mussel (Dreissena bugensis) and zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) occur in deep–cold water and shallow–warm water, respectively, is inappropriate. We estimated dreissenid densities at sites affected by warmwater discharges into Lake Erie (Nanticoke, Ontario) to separate the effects of depth and temperature. Both species’ densities increased with depth. After con...

Surveys of the benthic macroinvertebrate community were conducted in the main basin of Lake Huron in 2000 and 2003, and in Georgian Bay and North Channel in 2002. Results were compared to surveys conducted in the 1960s and early 1970s. Although data of earlier surveys were inconsistent, our best estimates suggest that total density of the four major benthic taxa (Diporeia spp., Oligochaeta, Sph...

The international pet trade is a major driver of non-native species spread, including both sold in the trade, and organisms incidentally transported alongside. Here, we document discovery invasive zebra mussels, Dreissena polymorpha , Germany, alongside commonly traded garden pond snail European native, Viviparus viviparus ordered from German website. We highlight that poses yet another way whi...

Microcystins are produced by bloom-forming cyanobacteria and pose significant health and ecological problems. In this study we show that zebra mussels respond differently to different strains of Microcystis aeruginosa, and that a highly toxic strain causes zebra mussels to produce large quantities of mucous pseudofaeces, 'pseudodiarrhoea', that are periodically expelled hydraulically through th...