AUTHORS:
Michael S. Gray, Biology Department, SUNY Oneonta, Oneonta NY 13820 (presenting
author)
Thomas G. Horvath, Biology Department, SUNY Oneonta, Oneonta NY 13820, Phone:
607-436-3899, Fax: 607-436-3646, Email: horvattg@oneonta.edu (contact author)
Scott Ingmire, Madison County Planning Department, Wampsville NY 13163
TITLE: Natural and Human-mediated Dispersal of Zebra Mussel from Eaton Brook
Reservoir, Madison County, NY
Aquatic nuisance species often threaten ecological function, and thus the sustainability of
native population’s co-occuring in invaded habitats. Among the most problematic
aquatic nuisance species is the zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha). The first
established population of zebra mussels in the Upper Susquehanna River Basin (USRB)
is in Eaton Brook Reservoir (EBR), Madison County, New York. This small
impoundment may serve as a source population for further dispersal of zebra mussels in
the USRB by natural and human-mediated means. The goal of this project was to
examine boater habits to determine where the mussels came from and to predict where
future dispersal may occur. Boater habits were determined by interviewing boaters in the
summer 2003 using a randomly designed boater survey. Additionally, natural dispersal
via drift from the EBR’s outlet stream was examined by bucketing known volumes of
water through a 63 μm-mesh plankton net at fixed locations below the outlet and
quantifying veliger concentrations using cross-polarization microscopy. An estimated 98
boaters may have transported live adult zebra mussels from EBR to other water bodies
during the summer months of 2003. Although humans are likely the sole vectors of zebra
mussel dispersal from lake to lake, veligers were passively transported through Eaton
Brook (~25km) to the Chenango River, a tributary of the Susquehanna River, for several
weeks during the summer 2003. The mean summer veliger concentrations were 8.47 ±
6.26 and 0.10 ± 0.07 veligers/liter (±1 SE) for EBR and Eaton Brook’s junction with the
Chenango River, respectively.