PARENT SESSION
Contributed Oral Session 35: Invasive Species: Great Lakes Area
Monday, August 8, 1:30 PM - 5:00 PM, Meeting Room 524 B, Level 5, Palais des congrès de Montréal
Life-history variation and the dispersal of invasive species in Ontario lakes.
Muirhead, Jim*,1, MacIsaac, Hugh1, 1 University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada
ABSTRACT- Spatially-explicit predictions of range expansion of aquatic invasive species is an important undertaking, as it is often easier to prevent invasions than to mitigate impacts once a lake has been invaded. Lakes are well suited to serve in models of spread because they are well-defined habitats and because vectors of spread are readily identified and quantified. Transport models, such as vector-based production-attraction gravity models, require information on both traffic inflows and outflows from lakes, and offer the most spatially-explicit predictions of spread. In this study, we compare the patterns and mechanisms of spread of the spiny waterflea Bythotrephes longimanus and the zebra mussel Dreissena polymorpha among inland Ontario lakes. We surveyed recreationalists regarding the movement of trailered boats and other risky activities to model vector traffic from invaded lakes to non-invaded or other invaded lakes. Both species are transported overland by mechanisms associated with recreational boating, though differences in patterns and rates of spread may be influenced by differences in life-history traits, which, in turn, influences the relative importance of different mechanisms. For example, resistant resting eggs produced by the waterflea may be transported over greater distances on contaminated fishing line, whereas zebra mussel adults may be transported on boat hulls or attached to macrophytes on boat trailers. Both species may be transported in live well water.
Key words: Bythotrephes longimanus, Dreissena polymorpha, gravity models, nonindigenous species