Flowers, T. (2022, October 27). Invasive zebra mussels have “infested” a Colorado lake for the first time, raising fears they could spread. The Colorado Sun. Retrieved January 17, 2023, from https://coloradosun.com/2022/10/27/zebra-mussels-highline-lake-colorado/
Despite the efforts of Colorado Parks and Wildlife, invasive zebra mussels have officially “infested” Highline Lake. The first adult mussel was found in the lake on September 14, 2022, and almost 12 more were found there on October 21 and 23. Zebra mussels are able to rapidly reproduce and spread, and their presence in Highline Lake could disrupt the local ecosystem and lead to economic damage. Colorado officials are hoping that a more rigorous inspection and cleaning of boats entering or leaving the lake will prevent the spread of the zebra mussels to other bodies of water.
This article is related to environmental science because zebra mussels consume nutrients needed by other fish and plants in the ecosystem. In addition, the mussels’ high levels of filter feeding can alter food sources in lakes and reservoirs. Both of these consequences negatively affect the ecosystem, resulting in more local creatures dying than normal, and people must work to mitigate the effects of this invasive species and prevent them from spreading to other bodies of water. I am not entirely surprised that zebra mussels have continued to spread across the United States, as they can live for up to 27 days outside of water under the right conditions, and one mussel can produce up to 1 million babies in a year, so they seem to be able to spread very quickly and easily if the right precautions are not taken. I’m glad that Colorado authorities are taking the threat of zebra mussels so seriously, but in my opinion, I think the species will continue to slowly spread across the state, as it seems to just take one person who doesn’t inspect and clean their boat properly to spread them to another body of water, and while the efforts that authorities are making to prevent their spread is impressive, I find it hard to believe that they will be able to catch everyone whose boats contain zebra mussels, but hopefully, I will be proven wrong in the future.
I’m afraid I agree with you, Justin. These Zebra Mussels are a force to be reckoned with. Recall we had an FRQ on it… it used to be a highlighted case study in our text. We’ve known about them and how they are spreading for years… and have enacted all kinds of ways to try and stop/slow them down.
Now that they are in Colorado in a lake, should that lake be like quarantined or have boats prohibited or something to try and isolate them there? You can imagine the public response to that. Or just keep inspecting?
Thanks for consistently producing top quality posts on your topic, Justin!
Thank you for reading my post. I honestly don’t think quarantining the lake is a realistic option. Even if the people were able to be convinced to agree to a temporary quarantine of the lake, I’m not sure there is an effective way to kill all of the zebra mussels infesting it without drastically harming its natural ecosystem, and if some zebra mussels survive, they could easily repopulate the lake. This problem could be present for a long time, I’m sure that people would not be willing to uphold a quarantine for that long. Ultimately, I think the inspections should continue while research is being conducted into how to clear the zebra mussels from the lake without harming the other organisms in it.