The Zebra Mussel
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The zebra mussel, Eurasian watermilfoil and round and tubenose goby are all nonindigenous species thought to have been brought to the United States from Europe in the ballast water of ocean-going vessels. These vessels pick up ballast water in their homeport when they are carrying a light load and discharge it here in U.S. waters when picking up heavier loads. This water often contains small fish, shellfish and plants native to the port where the ballast water was picked up, e.g. the Caspian Sea. Since these nonindigenous species have no natural predators here, they flourish and often outstrip native plants and waterlife by competing for food and space. This can severely disrupt the normal food chain, and cause the disappearance, or severe reduction in numbers of game fish, having an economic impact on the fishing industry. Rapidly growing nonindigenous weeds that outpace native ones may provide fewer nutrients for water birds as well as fish that feed on native plants. They clog waterways and lakes, necessitating their costly removal. Once these nonindigenous aquatic species take hold, there is little that can be done to eradicate them, so authorities need to take measures to prevent their entry into American waters, and if they do manage to invade U. S. waters, then must take stringent measures to halt their spread. If these measures are not taken, these invading species may have a serious economic impact on all water-related ventures.
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ty alters, texture, flow etc. and that the changes in three-dimensional structure could have affected the macroinvertebrates in several ways: the crevices among zebra mussels would provide darker habitat for invertebrates that are negatively phototaxic; crevices could be used by small macroinvertebrates such as Chironomidae or Hydroptilidae as refuge from predators; and the greater microhabitat complexity could explain the increased family richness found on rocks with a high density of mussels, particularly those of rare taxa such as Simuliidae and Elmidae. Overall, their results suggest that zebra mussels have the potential to affect, and even increase, bethnic macroinvertebrate communities in invaded ecosystems, especially if the mussels increase substrate heterogeneity. But do not dominate the habitat and food resources.
Eurasian watermilfoil
The Eurasian watermilfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum L.) is a submersed, rooted, perennial herb consisting of long underwater stems that branch and produce many whorled, finely divided leaves when nearing the surface (Nonindigenous aquatic species, 2001). It is not a native species to the United States, and can be differentiated from the native M. sibiricum by the overall shape of the
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 3770
Approximate Pages = 15 (250 words per page)
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