Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory

24 Aug, 09 AM - 26 Aug, 01 AM

The New Zealand mudsnail (Potamopyrgus antipodarum) is an exotic snail that has recently started to invade western North America. The snail was first introduced to Idaho in the 1980?s and has since spread to almost every western state. This snail, native to New Zealand, has spread to California waters, including the Owens River. This snail is attracting the attention and concern of scientists, managers, and the public because it can have enormous impacts on freshwater ecosystems. These snails can reach extraordinary densities and have been shown to alter greatly the flows of energy and nutrients through freshwater ecosystems. Whether and how the snails affect the stream food webs has been relatively unexplored. Dr. David Herbst (Research Faculty at SNARL) has been sampling benthic invertebrates in the Owens River at 5 sites for several years. Over this time period, the NZMS has invaded and quickly become a large component of the benthic invertebrate community. Different sites were invaded at different times, representing a well-replicated time series of the invasion of NZMS. In collaboration with Dr. Herbst, we are planning on using some of his historic benthic invertebrate samples for isotope analyses. These isotope samples should reveal major shifts in patterns of energy flow through the benthic food web. Project goal: Use stable isotopes and historic samples to investigate if invasion of the NZMS has caused shifts in patterns of energy flow through the Owens River benthic food web.

Visit #16149 @Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory

Approved

Under Project # 10515 | Research

Impacts of the invasive New Zealand mudsnail on the Owens River benthic invertebrate community

faculty - University of California, Santa Cruz

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Jonathan Moore Aug 24 - 26, 2008 (3 days)

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Dorm 1 Aug 24 - 26, 2008