2. awarded to Honeoye Lake Watershed Taskforce
Musseling In…
Encore Presentation at the Honeoye Valley Association Annual Meeting of a previous report to Ontario County Water Resources Council on Special Project ,
awarded to Honeoye Lake Watershed Taskforce

3. Acknowledgements
Field and laboratory work was conducted with cooperation and assistance from Terry and Dorothy Gronwall
This presentation was prepared by Dr. Bruce Gilman, Finger Lakes Community College

4. Desirable to periodically monitor invasive mussel population
Impacts of Invasive Mussels: Food-web disruption, altered nutrient cycles, role in algal blooms, other changes in lake ecology, human health issues
Desirable to periodically monitor invasive mussel population

5. Methods Field collection Laboratory work Analytical summary
Replicating earlier studies, mussel samples were collected at three water depths in each of four locations within the littoral zone of Honeoye Lake (N=12). In 2018, three additional samples were taken in deeper locations.
Laboratory work
For each sample, total mussel count and total biomass were determined. Up to 100 shell length measurements were taken with digital calipers.
Analytical summary
Statistical analyses and chart production were completed in a Microsoft Excel© spreadsheet.

6. “Boom and bust” cycle in density

7. “Boom and bust” cycle in biomass

8. 2018 shift to more but smaller zebra mussels

9. Shell length as proxy for mussel age

10. What we have learned
Study year comparisons suggest subtle “boom and bust” cycles but additional field research is needed for verification.
In Honeoye Lake, the density of zebra mussel populations are spatially variable and lower in numbers than those reported from the deeper, hard bottomed Finger Lakes. (For instance, Canandaigua Lake averaged nearly 6,000 dreissenid mussels per square meter in 2011 and again in 2016!)
Lower densities in Honeoye Lake are likely caused by fewer hard substrates for attachment (reduced macrophyte beds and declining numbers of native clams) and limited over-wintering opportunities (removal of artificial substrates like docks).
Most zebra mussels only live one year.
Quagga mussels and Asian clams were not detected in Honeoye Lake for any of our study years.