The status of unionid and dreissenid mussels in northwestern Pennsylvania inland lakes.

Butkas, Katrina J.; Ostrofsky, Milton L.

The status of unionid and dreissenid mussels in northwestern Pennsylvania inland lakes.

Persistent URL

http://hdl.handle.net/10456/45380

Author(s)

Butkas, Katrina J.

Ostrofsky, Milton L.

Date Issued

2006

Abstract

A survey of the native unionid fauna of the eight natural lakes in the glaciated region of northwestern Pennsylvania suggests that the documented species richness of regional lotic habitats cannot be extended to lentic habitats. Richness ranged from 0 to 5 species per lake, and population densities (<0.03 individuals/m²) are low. The most frequent and abundant species were Pyganodon grandis and Utterbackia imbecillis, each occurring in five lakes, and making up 50% and 15% respectively of all unionids collected. Two of the lakes have been successfully colonized by Dreissena polymorpha, with evidence of an unsuccessful introduction in a third. In Sandy Lake, 78% of the unionids were fouled by Dreissena, with an average density of 271 Dreissena/unionid. Although none of the seven species of native unionids found in this survey are regionally endangered, the prognosis for lake populations is poor.

Journal

The Nautilus

Department

Biology

Citation

Butkas, K.J., and Ostrofsky, M.L. (2016). The status of unionid and dreissenid mussels in northwestern Pennsylvania inland lakes. The Nautilus 120(3): 106-111.

Publisher

Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum

Version of Article

Published article

Rights

This article is published with a creative commons license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/

Subjects

Unionids

zebra mussels

Pennsylvania lakes

Corbicula

Dreissena

File(s)

Name

Ostrofsky_2006_Naut_Dreissena.pdf

Description

Document

Size

114.44 KB

Format

Adobe PDF

Checksum (etag)

3c54fe814f373ddde717a77e9452660b

Name

Ostrofsky_2006_Naut_Cover.pdf

Description

cover

Size

327.54 KB

Format

Adobe PDF

Checksum (etag)

39d2ee4e17ef2c0aaab1e6e14fd0fc94