Great Lakes Invasive Species

From Great Lakes Wiki

Invasive Species

An invasive species is an alien species whose introduction is likely to do harm or does harm to the native ecosystem, the local economy, or commerce, and also human health. Invasive species pose the greatest threats to the Great Lakes ecosystem today. The most significant harms being caused are from: Sea Lamprey, Round Goby, Zebra Mussels, Quagga mussel,and Eurasian ruffe. Most experts attribute the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway as the major contributor to invasive species in the Great Lakes. An invasive species that has the potential to greatly harm and that is threatening to enter The Great Lakes is the Asian Carp.

An example of what can happen when an invasive species completly takes over can be illustrated by taking a look at a phenomenon in Lake Erie. Recently scientists have found "dead zones" in Lake Erie where nothing can survive. These areas are growing each year.

The entire food web of the Great Lakes is being damaged by invasive species. As more and more of these invaders arrive, the entire commercial fishing industry is at risk to collapse entirely.

Since the 1800's, there has been 160 new exotic species introduced to the Great Lakes irreversibly altering the regions ecosystem. About 139 of these species comes from South Eastern Europe and about 70 percent has been introduced by the release of ballast water from ships traversing the lakes.

Scientists have estimated that about 10 percent of the exotics introduced have caused significant ecological and economic damage. They have also determined that invasive species can affect multiple ecological levels and are uncovering some disturbing trends. Invasives according to experts are having severe negative consequences to the base of the food web, are assaulting the ecosystem on multiple fronts, are altering the ecology to promote more invasive species to rapidly take hold, and they are increasing the pressures on the sportfish and commercial fishing species and changing the overall distribution of fish in the Great Lakes.

Video Clip
Invasive species
01:29 Interview with Bill Craig, talking about Japanese Knotweed along the Rouge River, which is one of the Areas of Concern

List of Invasive Species

Note: You need to click the text, not the picture. Clicking the picture just takes you to a bigger picture.

amphipod	alewife </td>	aquatic moth </td>	aquatic weevil </td>	Asian clama </td> </tr>
banded mystery snail </td>	barnyard grass </td>	bitter dock </td>	bittersweet nightshade </td>	black alder </td> </tr>
black-grass rush</td>	blueback herring </td>	bluespotted sunfish </td>	bristly lady's thumb </td>	brown alga </td> </tr>
brown trout </td>	bryozoan </td>	bur reed </td>	calanoid copepod </td>	chinook salmon </td> </tr>
cladoceran </td>	cocco-lithophoroid</td>	coho salmon </td>	common carp </td>	crack willow </td> </tr>
creeping whorled mint</td>	creeping yellow cress</td>	curlyleaf pondweed </td>	cyclopoid copepod </td>	diatom </td> </tr>
digenean fluke </td>	Eurasian ruffe </td>	Eurasian water milfoil </td>	European Brooklime </td>	European ear snail </td> </tr>
European fingernail snail </td>	European frogbit </td>	European valve snail</td>	European water clover</td>	European water horehound</td> </tr>
fanwort</td>	faucet snail </td>	field sow thistle</td>	fish-hook waterflea </td>	flagellate</td> </tr>
flattened rush</td>	flatworm</td>	flowering rush</td>	fourspine stickleback</td>	freshwater jellyfish </td> </tr>
furunculosis</td>	garden loostrife</td>	ghost shiner </td>	giant chickweed</td>	glossy buckthorn</td> </tr>
goldfish</td>	great hairy willow herb </td>	greater European pea clam</td>	green alga</td>	harpacticoid copepod</td> </tr>
henslow's pea clam</td>	humpback pea clam</td>	hydroid</td>	indian balsam</td>	kokanee</td> </tr>
lady's thumb</td>	margined madtom</td>	marsh thistle</td>	japanese knotweed</td>	minor naiad</td> </tr>
mixosporidian</td>	moneywort</td>	monogenetic fluke</td>	New Zealand mud snail</td>	mussel</td> </tr>
narrow leaved cattail</td>	oak leaved goose foot</td>	oligochaete</td>	orange-spotted sunfish</td>	Oriental mystery snail</td> </tr>
Oriental weatherfish</td>	parasitic copepod</td>	peppermint</td>	pink salmon</td>	poison hemlock</td> </tr>
purple loosestrife </td>	purple willow</td>	Quagga mussel </td>	rainbow smelt </td>	rainbow trout </td> </tr>
red alga</td>	redear sunfish</td>	redtop</td>	reed sweet-grass</td>	rough-stalked meadow grass</td> </tr>
round goby </td>	rudd</td>	rush</td>	salmonid whirling disease</td>	salt-marsh fleabane</td> </tr>
sea lamprey </td>	seaside goldenrod</td>	sedge</td>	small flowered hairy willow herb</td>	smooth field sow thistle</td> </tr>
snail</td>	spearmint</td>	spiny naiad</td>	spiny water flea</td>	suckermouth minnow</td> </tr>
suctorian</td>	swamp sedge</td>	true forgot-me-not</td>	tubenose goby</td>	water chestnut</td> </tr>
water cress</td>	waterflea</td>	water foxtail</td>	weeping alkali grass</td>	western mosquitofishtd> </tr>
western water horehound</td>	white perch</td>	white willow</td>	yard dock</td>	yellow flag</td> </tr>
yellow floating heart</td>	zebra mussel</td>	garlic mustard*</td>	Asian carp* </td>	cormorant </td> </tr>
phragmites* </td>	</td>	</td>	</td>	</td> </tr>