Resistance of the invasive pest mussel Limnoperna fortune/to anoxia: Implications for biofouling control

摘要

Invasive mussels cause significant problems in water bodies—and for water utilities. The golden mussel Limnoperna fortunei—like its zebra and quagga mussel cousins—has serious environmental and ecologic effects on the habitats it invades. Native to Asia, the bivalve was likely introduced in South America by transocean ships in the early 1990s. First detected in Argentina along the coasts of the Rio de la Plata Estuary, L. fortunei spread westward and northward and has reached as far north as Brazil into the Pantanal, the world's largest wetland. In this study, small (7-mm) and large (20-mm) mussels were exposed to anoxic conditions under two temperatures (20 and 27℃). The authors found that in industrial installations, regardless of its physiologic effect (which was not studied), anoxia is an economic, effective, and environmentally innocuous alternative for the control of L. fortunei. Although this mussel is more resistant than Dreissena polymorpha at higher temperatures, this study did show that 100% mortalities can be achieved in slightly more than a week. Other researchers have predicted that L. fortunei's ability to tolerate conditions that limit other mussels could help promote its spread into the drainage systems of three rivers in North America: the Rio Grande, the Colorado, and the Mississippi.