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Thesis statement on zebra mussels
Thesis statement on zebra mussels
Thesis statement on zebra mussels
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Zebra mussels, or Dreissena Polymorpha, (Murphy) are an invasive species to Canada and The United States, mostly found in the great lakes. (NOAA) Zebra Mussels are small mollusks, around 1-5cm in length, and black stripes across their shells; hence their name. (Harmful Aquatic Hitchhikers: Mollusks: Zebra Mussel) This invasive species came here from Europe in ballast tanks during the 1980’s. The water was taken onboard in ballast tanks of ships coming from Europe, and brought all the way here and dumped in our waters. Zebra mussels can be as small as sand grains before they grow, so they were easily transported here. (Guiberson 35) Ever since then, the zebra mussels have become a nuisance to native species, as well as factories, and also a huge threat to the ecosystem. (Harmful Aquatic …show more content…
The purpose of these mussels is to filter the water. (May 47) When filtering the water, they remove many small particles as well as creating more algae. Along with toxins, zebra mussels also filter out things like nutrients, without which native species can’t survive. What’s worse is that the clean water also causes more algae to grow, much more than there should be. (Plautz)
The problems don’t stop there. “They attach to substrate with a glue they secrete that forms fibers called byssal threads.” (Murphy) Zebra mussels stuck together, and to almost any surface, creating several issues. One of them is that they clog pipes, which caused the whole water supply to stop for over nearly 4 weeks in Berlin. The same has happened to many other factories and cities. (Guiberson 35)
It doesn’t stop there! Another huge issue with zebra mussels is how fast they reproduce. “Each can release as many as 1 million eggs each year”. (Murphy) Now multiply that by the number of zebra mussels there already are in the water, and you get trillions of zebra mussels. Lake Michigan already has over 900 trillion zebra mussels!
The Zebra Mussel (Dreissena polymorpha), is a small freshwater mollusk that is an invasive species. It has slowly been making its way into the United States. It has done this by showing up in lakes and in rivers. The mussels get their name due to the striped pattern on their shells. They are a relatively small species, only growing to the size of a human finger nail but there have been cases of larger (“Zebra Mussels,” 2013, para. 2). Mussels live a short life span of 4-5 years and most do not make into adulthood. They live in freshwater at depths of 6 to 24 feet. The female produces 30,000 to 1,000,000 eggs per year starting at the age of two. Zebra Mussels are free moving and can move with an external organ called the byssus (“Zebra Mussels,” 2013, para. 3). But they can be moved around by currents and other objects too. Zebra Mussels are a threat to ecosystems. They damage the natural habitat of lakes and rivers and cause negative effects to the native aquatic life. They multiply in vast majority casing a lake of food and space for other animals. And also the U.S. has spent millions on the removal of these pests from our water (“Zebra Mussels,” 2014, para. 8). The Zebra Mussel has now made its way into Colorado. Just a few has been found in the waters of Colorado but a few is enough to cause a big stir. Extreme precautions have now been put into effect to make sure that the threat of Zebra Mussels is under control.
They also look after the quality of coastal waters by watering down, sifting, and settling deposits, left-over nutrients and contaminants. They are highly productive ecosystems and provide habitats and act as nurseries for all manner of life.
Imagine you are in your backyard and you say to your friend, “You better stand way back for my high fastball because I have the power of a shrimp.” Your friend chuckles and says, “Well that means I better stand right in front of you.” You quickly throw the ball, and it flies way out into space. Typically, the word, “shrimp,” indicates that a person, animal, or object is meager or weak. However, a shrimp that is actually no shrimp at all has the ability to become the top pitcher in the world. However, there are many other unique creatures as well that possess special, almost unbelievable qualities that enable them to survive.
According to ebooks- lab aids, "Hydrilla verticillata, as it is known scientifically, can clog up city water intake valves and get tangled in boat propellers. 'We used to have the best swimming hole down by the bridge,' said Rita Aziz, a 7th grader at Junior Middle School. 'Now it’s filled with this gross weed. The last time I swam there, I got tangled in it. It was scary. I would really like to find a way to do something about it.'". The Hydrilla didn't help their own case by clogging up city water intake. The impact or issues that hydrilla had caused are that the mats are so dense they alter water quality by raising pH levels, decreasing oxygen under mats and increasing water temperatures. It can grow very fast. It can slow down water flow 85%. It covers up plants that make oxygen for fish which kills the fish. It covers. under native plants and pushes them up and out of their place. But even then, the Hydrilla has succeeded to kill other vegetation and other organisms. Even though hydrilla was eliminated in one place it would affect another
Invasive species only started to show up in the United States when the Europeans started to arrive. Beforehand, very limited contact was made in this particular region of the world, so very few invasive species came into North America. When the Europeans arrived in 1492, after Columbus discovered North America, they brought their own culture and essential food and animals with them. At first, it was just the basics of maize, wheat, pumpkins, and squash, but later on it also included cows, chickens, and horses . As more Europeans flocked into the country, non-native species began to appear in the area. Often, as non-native species appeared it led to unintended consequences of destroying gra...
Zebra mussels are an example of an invasive species. Zebra mussels were first from Eastern Europe and West Russia, but they arose in the Great Lakes in the 1980s. It is believed that they got here in the ballast water of ships. These mussels reproduce in an expedite rate. “In her five-year lifetime, a single zebra mussel will produce about five million eggs, 100,000 of which reach adulthood.” (The National Wildlife Federation) With such a high reproduction rate it’s obvious that “zebra mussels have spread throughout the Great Lakes, parts of the Mississippi River, and other rivers and inland lakes.” (Minnesota Department of Natural Resources)
AAAAHHHH, What’s that jelly feeling, OOOOWWWW, Something stung me, MMMMOOOOMMMM!!!! That would be a Mnemiopsis jellyfish, they are actually dangerous to the environment, lately they have caused ecological problems. The growing numbers of the Mnemiopsis jellyfish causes problems, they affect power plants in Japan, but there is a solution being worked out as we speak.
The adult zebrafish pectoral fin is comprised of endochondral and dermal bone, forming the proximal and distal radials, and the fin rays, respectively. The transgenic Tg(fli1a:eGFP) line can drive eGFP expression in blood vessels during embryogenesis. In addition, eGFP is expressed in the pectoral endoskeletal disc (ED) but absent in distal posterior chondrocytes. An enhancer within the mouse Hoxa11 intron, m-Inta11 that drives reporter expression in a subpopulation of hoxa13/hoxd13a-expressing cells in the larval pectoral fin has recently been identified. Beginning at 52hpf, the activity of m-Inta11 correlates with the absence of fli1a reporter expression in the distal posterior ED. This complementary expression pattern persists throughout
Toxic Substances are a chemical pollutant that is not a naturally occurring substance in an aquatic ecosystem. Theses kinds of things come from plants that have a drainage system that runs off into the water and they dumb the things that they won’t need anymore. These chemicals can be very harmful to animals. When sewage is thrown into the water an organic substance occurs. With this happening the water loses oxygen and with the lack of oxygen it can kill all of the aquatic organisms. Whe...
Many people see the European Carp as a pest and they are highly disliked throughout NSW. They contribute to the degradation of waterways and rob native fish of their food and space. According to the NSW Department of Primary Industries, there have been suggestions that Carp have increased the likelihood of algae blooms by preying on animals that eat algae, stirring up nutrients trapped in bottom sediments, damaging aquatic plants and reducing plant growth via turbidity.
Invasive alien species are disrupting and changing the normal ecological functions of biomes, ecosystems, and the biosphere as a whole (CBD, 2009). They are a threat to biodiversity and can cause damage to, or even eradicate native species which natural cycles and other organisms depend on. While disrupting energy flow, food chains, and shaking the structure of ecosystems to the core, invasive species create not only ecological, but also a whole host of social, economical, and health issues that affect the livelihood of almost every organism on earth, including humans (CBD, 2009).
(2015) lists some of the sources of nutrients as adaptation in use of land, dumping of untreated sewage and garbage, mining and construction activities in coastal areas, pesticide and insecticide use. Indirectly, biogeochemical cycles can add nutrients from the atmosphere into the marine ecosystem via rain (Hapeman et al. 2002). Untreated wastewater effluent from industries, runoff water from lawns and farmlands runoff into freshwater and mix with the bay water and contaminate it. According to Kemp et al. (2005), farms are in close proximity to water sources. Nutrients from pesticides, insecticides and animal waste can easily end up in water sources as runoff. Nitrogen, phosphorous and carbon are some of the many chemicals that end as runoff disturbing the ecosystem in estuaries (Gray et al. 2002; Kemp et al. 2005). Waste water treatment plant also contribute nitrogen and phosphorous (Hapeman et al. 2002). The result is eutrophication of coastal
In the Ming and Qing Dynasty up till today in China, the larvae of Musca domestica has been used
For examples, pilchards, hakes, snooks as well as mackerels are everyday being exported outside the country. Comparing this with water pollution which is absolutely a big threats to the fish living styles, it’s definitely a big lose to Namibia. In fact, some industries do not have proper wastes management, however, they end up drain the wastes such as sediments, plastics to state some into the fresh water which goes into rivers, canals as well in the oceans. Once those toxics substances get into water in excessive amount of different sizes, small plastics actually mistaken as food by fish and other marine life then they end up feeding on them. As a result fish will die by consuming those toxics foods hence they will poison and damage their stomachs as well their digestive organs. “Sources of plastics include landfills, waste disposal from plastic industries, plastic garbage from ships, and litter on beaches can stick to marine life and affect their breathing or swimming” Alfonso, J.A. & Neto, J.A.B. (2008) Marine Pollution: retrieved from http: //www.marine pollution/ Marine egineering study
The reason being that these plants draw water from nearby source to keep machines cool for their proper functioning. After that the water is then released back to the source which has considerably higher temperature than usual. This water with increased temperatures when is released to the natural sources of water bodies the water temperature rises sharply. This alters the oxygen levels in the water. When the amount of oxygen present isn’t enough it hampers and degrades the quality and longevity of life of the marine and aquatic animals living and surviving underwater. This process has the capability of wiping away the streamside vegetation, which depends on the constant levels of oxygen and temperatures. When these natural conditions are altered it leads to heavy disruption of the proper functioning. Industries are helping in decreasing the quality of life for these marine based life forms. They ultimately end up destroying habitats if they are not controlled and they don’t check their current