emv@msen.com (Ed Vielmetti) (05/28/91)
zebra mussels are little critters that hitch-hiked their way in from Europe. they're prolific and enjoy making their homes on things like boats, piers, water intake valves, and the like. they're bad news all around -- the city of Monroe lost their water feed from Lake Erie when the entire pipe got encrusted with the things. A recent article in the Detroit Freep said they'd made it all the way up to Escanaba in northern Lake Michigan. Some questions: - what's the scientific name of the zebra mussel? - who is doing research on them these days? I'd expect it would be a hot topic, given their potential economic impacts on the Great Lakes region, but a cursory search of the literature didn't yield any hits on "zebra". - these things are supposed to be widespread in Europe. How do they cope with them there? thanks. followups to sci.bio.alt.great-lakes. -- Edward Vielmetti, vice president for research, MSEN Inc. emv@msen.com
scs@iti.org (Steve Simmons) (05/28/91)
emv@msen.com (Ed Vielmetti) writes: >Some questions: >- these things are supposed to be widespread in Europe. How do they > cope with them there? They have natural predators in Europe which have not (yet) hitchhiked over here. -- "If we don't provide support to our users someone is bound to confuse us with Microsoft." -- Charles "Chip" Yamasaki
beckley@cbnewsd.att.com (Owen D. Beckley) (05/28/91)
From article <EMV.91May28011045@bronte.aa.ox.com>, by emv@msen.com (Ed Vielmetti): > > zebra mussels are little critters that hitch-hiked their way in from > Europe. > > A recent article in the Detroit Freep said they'd made it all the way > up to Escanaba in northern Lake Michigan. The article you read is way behind the times. Zebra mussels hit Chicago last summer! I have a friend who's company does underwater inspections and construction. He found them last summer in one of the steel mills south of Chicago. owen_d_beckley@att.com
deanb@pecan10.cray.com (Dean Barker) (05/29/91)
In article <1991May28.140523.22980@cbnewsd.att.com>, beckley@cbnewsd.att.com (Owen D. Beckley) writes: > From article <EMV.91May28011045@bronte.aa.ox.com>, by emv@msen.com (Ed Vielmetti): > > > > zebra mussels are little critters that hitch-hiked their way in from > > Europe. > > > > A recent article in the Detroit Freep said they'd made it all the way > > up to Escanaba in northern Lake Michigan. > > The article you read is way behind the times. Zebra mussels hit Chicago > last summer! I have a friend who's company does underwater inspections > and construction. He found them last summer in one of the steel mills > south of Chicago. Yes, the zebra mussels have also reached the Duluth/Superior harbor which is on the western most tip of Lake Superior. So I would say it is a great lakes wide problem now. Dean -- ---------------------------------------------------------- Dean Barker Cray Research, Inc. deanb@cray.com 655F Lone Oak Drive (612) 683-5414 Eagan, MN 55121
prb@chinet.chi.il.us (Paul Botts) (05/29/91)
In article <scs.675438536@wotan.iti.org> scs@iti.org (Steve Simmons) writes: >emv@msen.com (Ed Vielmetti) writes: > >>Some questions: > >>- these things are supposed to be widespread in Europe. How do they >> cope with them there? > >They have natural predators in Europe which have not (yet) hitchhiked >over here. >-- Well, no, not really. According to some researchers I talked to for a magazine article, natural predation in Europe (by migratory ducks, mostly) doesn't really keep the mussel population down, just depresses it temporarily in the spring and fall. The real answer is that Europe's industrial infrastructure in much older than in the U.S., and so the intake pipes and so forth in the rivers and lakes have been built bigger for centuries. The zebra mussel spread throughout western Europe from the Caspian Sea area with the construction of a lot of canals on the continent in the first half of the 19th century and the latter half of the 18th. That is before any decent records on biological diversity existed, so tofrom the start of the industrial revolution the little beasties have been considered simply a part of the natural environment, and we have no good picture of what the zebras displaced from the ecosystem.
emv@msen.com (Ed Vielmetti) (05/29/91)
In article <rkushner.4305@sycom.UUCP> rkushner@sycom.UUCP (Ronald Kushner) writes: (liberally quoted due to incomplete news distribution) >- who is doing research on them these days? Detroit Water Department and Detroit Edison are both either doing major research or funding research. They have been totally screwed over by these little buggers. I think they found substitute salt of some kind kills 'em. Do you have any names or phone #s that I could make some contacts? It would be nice to get some of those folks on the net, either if they are funding research (no doubt we can find expertise and projects here in need of funding) or doing research (to keep in touch with what they are up to). No sign of either group in any of the net maps I've seen, so I don't know where to start. >followups to sci.bio.alt.great-lakes. I Don't get that group. Have Mike Wayne start sending you alt.great-lakes, I'm sure he carries it. -- Edward Vielmetti, vice president for research, MSEN Inc. emv@msen.com MSEN, Inc., 628 Brooks, Ann Arbor MI 48103. "With all of the attention and publicity focused on gigabit networks, not much notice has been given to small and largely unfunded research efforts which are studying innovative approaches for dealing with technical issues within the constraints of economic science." RFC 1216
wen-king@cs.caltech.edu (Wen-King Su) (05/29/91)
In article <EMV.91May28011045@bronte.aa.ox.com> emv@msen.com (Ed Vielmetti) writes: >Some questions: < >- what's the scientific name of the zebra mussel? <- who is doing research on them these days? I'd expect it would be a > hot topic, given their potential economic impacts on the Great Lakes < region, but a cursory search of the literature didn't yield any hits > on "zebra". <- these things are supposed to be widespread in Europe. How do they > cope with them there? May I append to this list? - Do they make good people food?
becca@convex.csd.uwm.edu (Rebecca M Hendrick) (05/29/91)
In article <EMV.91May28011045@bronte.aa.ox.com> emv@msen.com (Ed Vielmetti) writes: > >- who is doing research on them these days? I'd expect it would be a > hot topic, given their potential economic impacts on the Great Lakes > region, but a cursory search of the literature didn't yield any hits > on "zebra". You might try contacting the Great Lakes Research Facility at the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee (414) 649-3000. Also, I recently participated in a masters thesis defense in the engineering department. The subject was water and sanitation engineering. It seems that these folks consider zebra mussels the next hot topic in research-- primarily how to remove them from pipes. I remember one of the items discussed was the use of removable sheeting-- pull the sheeting off every so often and the mussels go with it. Becca
hacker@vela.acs.oakland.edu (Thomas J. Hacker) (05/30/91)
I think someone in the Bio dept in Oakland is studying them. Try calling to Bio dept at Oakland or try sending mail to joswiak@argo.acs.oakland.edu -Tom -- Thomas Hacker "Criticism is something we can avoid easily - by saying Systems Programmer nothing, doing nothing, and begin nothing" - Aristotle Oakland University, Rochester Mich (313) 370-4358 hacker@vela.acs.oakland.edu HACKER@OAKLAND uunet!umich!vela!hacker