USGS Zebra Mussel Monitoring Program for Texas Salient Results€¦ · Presentation outline •...

USGS Zebra Mussel Monitoring Program for TexasSalient Results

Presented to

Texas Commission on Environmental QualitySurface Water Quality Monitoring Meeting

Christopher Churchill, Ph.D.

U.S. Geological SurveyNorth Texas Program Office, Fort Worth

November 7, 2017

Presentation outline• USGS Zebra Mussel Monitoring Program (ZMMP)• Distribution/spread in Texas• Dispersal from source populations• Growth rates of juvenile zebra mussels• Effects of extreme climate events (drought/flood)• Effects of zebra mussels on water quality• Deliverables

Acknowledgements• Funding Cooperators

– Dallas Water Utilities– North Texas Municipal Water District

• Greater Texoma Utility Authority– Trinity River Authority– West Central Texas Municipal Water District– Canadian River Municipal Water Authority– Greenbelt Municipal & Industrial Water Authority

• Partners– Texas Parks and Wildlife Department– U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Study purpose• Ecology of zebra and quagga mussels in Texas

– Presence/absence (occurrence and early detection)– Live/dead determinations of larvae, juveniles, and

adults– Distributions of larvae, juveniles, and adults– Long-term spatio-temporal population dynamics– Dispersal dynamics– Spread ecology– Effects on ecosystem

Study design• Multiple study sites at each reservoir/river reach• Larvae (veligers)

– Plankton tows– Cross-polarized light microscopy– eDNA via polymerase chain reaction (PCR)

• Juveniles and adults– Artificial and natural substrates– eDNA via PCR– SCUBA dives

Program growth• Started April 2010

– Two reservoirs– One water treatment plant (WTP)– One river

• As of October 2017– 16 reservoirs– Three WTPs– Five rivers– Municipal water transfer pipeline

USGS zebra mussel study areas

http://nas.er.usgs.gov/viewer/omap.aspx?SpeciesID=5

Zebra mussel distributionas of October 20, 2017

Zebra mussel detections (year of first detection) as of November 6, 2017

http://nas.er.usgs.gov/viewer/omap.aspx?SpeciesID=5

Lake Texoma (2009)

Sister Grove Creek (2009)

Ray Hubbard Lake (2011)

Ray Roberts Lake (2012)

Lake Murray, OK (2012)

Lake Bridgeport (2013)Lavon Lake (2013)

Lake Lewisville (2013)

Elm Fork Trinity River (2013)

Elm Fork Trinity River (2014) Waco Lake (2014)

Belton Lake (2013)

Lake Dean Gilbert (2015)

Highlighting = Established population

North

Lake Fork Reservoir (2015)Eagle Mountain Lake (2016)

Lake Worth (2016)

Lake Livingston (2016)

Stillhouse Hollow Lake (2016)Fishing Hole Lake (2016)

Lake Travis (2017)

Canyon Lake (2017)

Lake Austin (2017)

Richland Chambers Res. (2017)

Ray

Roberts

Lake

RRLD (source) EFTRA1

EFTRA

EFTRA2

EFTRA3

Lake

Lewisville

LLCS

EFTRB

EFTRC

LLD (source) EFTRB1

EFTRB2

EFTRB3 EFTRC1

EFTRC2

Dallas

EFTRC3

m

Reach A

Reach B

Reach C

Downstream dispersal of veligers

Churchill and Quigley, Biological Invasions, in press

Distance from source (km)

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Velig

ers

per l

iter (

mea

n)

0

2

4

6

8RRLD

(source)

EFTRA1(1.9 km)

EFTRA2(9.2 km)

EFTRA3(20.2 km)

LLCS(28.0 km)

y = 7.550e-0.586x

adjusted r2 = 0.99p < 0.001



Autumn 2013

Spring 2013



Spring 2014

Distance from source (km)

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18

Mea

n m

usse

ls p

er li

near

met

er

0

20000

40000

60000

80000

y = 140988e-3.79x

adjusted r2 = 0.99p < 0.001

Down-pipe dispersal of veligers

Provisional data subject to revision

Growth of juvenile zebra mussels

170

150

130

110

90

70

50

30

55 50 45 40 35 30

Latitude

Lake Erie 1

Lake Erie - Western Basin 2

Lake Ijsselmeer 3

Lake Maarsseveen I 4

Lake Maarsseveen II 4

Lake Markermeer 3

Lake St. Clair 5

Lake Texoma - AC 6

Lake Texoma - EYC 6

Lake Texoma - HR 6

Lake Texoma - LTM 6

Lake Texoma - NCR 6

Lake Vechten 4

Oologah Lake 7

Sooner Lake 7

y = 267.55 - 3.906x r2 = 0.73 p < 0.0001

Dai

ly s

hell

leng

th g

row

th (µ

m)

Churchill et al. (2017) Biological Invasions 19:2355-2373

Hudson River, NY(Strayer et al. 2011)

El Dorado Lake, KS(Severson 2010)

Oologah Lake, OK(Boeckman 2011)

Lake Texoma, TX(Churchill 2013)

Year of “extreme” droughtU.S. Drought Monitor -National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Churchill (2013) Aquatic Invasions 8:389-406

El Dorado Lake, KS - 2007

Photo: Jason Goeckler, KDWPT (2007)

Lake Texoma, TX - 2011

Photo: Christopher Churchill, USGS (September 28, 2011)

Ray Roberts Lake, TX - 2015

Photo: Christopher Churchill, USGS (August 20, 2015)

Can droughts and floods have the same effect on zebra mussel populations?

© 2001 New Line Productions, Inc.


0

25

50

75

100

125

150

175

200

225

Veligersper liter

Jordan

Sanger Park

Pecan Ck Pk

Isle du Bois

Dam

Johnson

620

625

630

635

640

645

LakeElevation

(daily mean,feet aboveNGVD29)

Conservation elevation 632.5 feet

Ray Roberts Lake


Ray Roberts Lake, TX - 2015

Photo: Christopher Churchill, USGS (August 20, 2015)

Effects on water quality• Pre- and post-invasion data• Surface data from all study sites• First detect plus one year for “post invasion”• Dates and stats (mostly non-parametric)

– Texoma: 2007–2016, ANOVAs– Ray Roberts: 1989–2016, t-tests– Lewisville: 1975–2016, t-tests

2

3

4

5

6

7

Feet

Pre ZM Pre crash Post crash2007-2008 2010-2011 2012-2016

Secchi depth

Lake Texoma

1200

1400

1600

1800

2000

2200

µS/c

m²


Specific Conductance

8.0

8.1

8.2

8.3

8.4

Stan

dard

uni

ts


pH

* Statistically significant @ α = 0.05

*

15

18

21

24

27

°C


Water Temperature *

* *

-37% +24%+51% -15%

+123% -28%

Overall: +61%

Effects on water quality• Texoma vs. Ray Roberts/Lewisville

– Ca (+), chloride (+), Mg (+), Na (+), SO2 (+), silica (-)• Average changes in three Texas lakes

– Secchi depth +30%– Potassium +7%– Carbonate -37%– Fluoride -22%– Ammonia -48%– Nitrite -58%– Nitrate -35%– Orthophosphate -60%

Salient results summary• Continued spread in Texas• Grow faster, mature earlier, die sooner• Exponential decrease of density with distance

from source• High discharge increases invasion risk, mortality• Drought and flooding can negatively affect

populations• Zebra mussels could be increasing water clarity

and decreasing nutrient concentrations

Deliverables• Completed

– Downstream dispersal of veligers under different flows• Biological Invasions (in press)

– Survival and growth of young-of-year zebra mussels• Biological Invasions (2017) 19:2355-2373

– Population and spatio-temporal dynamics of veligers• Aquatic Invasions (2013) 8:389-406

– USGS Zebra Mussel Monitoring Program for Texas• USGS Fact Sheet (2012) FS 2012-3077

• Planned– USGS Scientific Investigations Report: ZMs in Texas– USGS Zebra Mussel Monitoring Program website

USGS ZMMP website

Presenter

Presentation Notes

The USGS Zebra Mussel Monitoring Program website … coming soon

USGS ZMMP website

Presenter

Presentation Notes

This placeholder map will be replaced with a zoomable, clickable map that will allow the user to visualize data collected at study sites under the ZMMP.

USGS ZMMP website

USGS ZMMP website

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Funding Cooperators will appear above Partners in the active website.

USGS ZMMP website

Presenter

Presentation Notes

This page will contain links to reference material including journal articles (.pdf), abstracts for conference presentations, and newspaper articles.

Christopher Churchill, Ph.D. [email protected] 817-319-7290

Questions?Artificial substrate

Post-deploymentPre-deployment

Equipment chainBelow

thermoclineAbove

thermocline

Churchill (2013) Aquatic Invasions 8:389-406

Presenter

Presentation Notes

This slide was not presented at the 2017 TCEQ SWQM Meeting due to time constraints and the fact that Michelle would have thrown something at me if I talked any longer about zebra mussels. =) SORRY, MICHELLE! The top subplot depicts discrete-depth temperature data. The bottom subplots depict veliger density, water temperature, and dissolved oxygen concentration recorded for discrete depths on the denoted sampling date. On May 25, the reservoir was isothermic and veligers distributed throughout the vertical water column in a random pattern. On June 15, the reservoir was thermally and chemically stratified and veligers were distributed in a non-random pattern. They were aggregated at the coolest, oxygenated water, just above the thermocline. These and subsequently-collected data support the hypothesis that veligers will aggregate just above the thermocline when one is present and throughout the vertical water column when the water body is well-mixed.



Presenter

Presentation Notes

This slide was not presented at the 2017 TCEQ SWQM Meeting due to time constraints. This slide depicts the relative percent of living veligers at five sites in a coupled lake-stream ecosystem. RRLD=Ray Roberts Dam (source population), A1, A2, and A3=river sites in the Elm Fork Trinity River, LLCS=Lake Lewisville (receiving water). Except for the source population, the relative percent of living veligers collected during periods of high discharge was lower the percent of living veligers during periods of low discharge. These data support the hypothesis that veliger mortality in lotic systems is positively correlated with water velocity.

USGS Zebra Mussel Monitoring Program for Texas Salient Results€¦ · Presentation outline •...

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