1. Invasive Mussel Monitoring at
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area Water Laboratory
Jamie Pejza and Sasha Rohde
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

2. Mussel Background:
Introduced to N. America in the late 1980s through the St. Lawrence Seaway in ballast tanks in cargo ships
Rapidly spread through waterbodies in the Great Lakes region, Mississippi drainage

3. Infestation has a detrimental affect to:
Environment:
Dead smelly shells on shore
Mussel mats on the slick rock walls
Recreational opportunities
Fishing, boating, recreating on the beach
Economy
Local businesses, costs to taxpayers to keep infrastructure clear (dams, cooling pipes), boat engine damage

4. Once you get mussels, it is almost impossible to get rid of them!
No natural predators in N. America
Human control efforts have only been effective on small scale treatments
Use of poison in very small reservoirs, or draining of reservoir
Lake Powell is so big, that it would take the world’s 1 year supply of potassium permanganate (poison that binds to the gills of aquatic life) to treat an area the size of Wahweap Bay, and it would take almost ¾ of a year to get it all transported here.

5. What we do at Glen Canyon NRA to prevent Lake Powell from mussel infestation
Mussel Interdiction Program
Vessel inspections
Decontaminations
Quarantine
Mussel Monitoring Program
Sampling for early detection of mussels
Lake Powell does not have invasive mussels, so why are we monitoring for them?

6. Glen Canyon National Recreation Area Mussel Monitoring:
Monitor high use areas monthly for early mussel detection
Look for the juvenile form of mussels (Veligers)– free floating, likely found earlier than attached adults
Lake Mead mussel population found by a diver in 2007; based on the size of the population, it is thought mussels were introduced in 2005.
Increase chances of early detection, providing opportunity for eradication of possible small-scale infestation
Based on the size of the population, it is thought mussels were introduced in 2005 – but they were not sampling for the juvenile forms, and adults colonized very deep in the water column, so they went unfound for 2 years.
The only chance we have for a successful eradication is if we catch a population early enough that is small-scale and not wide spread. The best chances for treatment would include sending divers down with plastic sheeting and weights to cover the population, then apply the poison under the plastic sheeting so it is concentrated enough to kill that isolated population.

7. Plankton and substrate sampling
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area Mussel Monitoring: Methods
Microscopy & FlowCAM
DNA
analysis
Plankton and substrate sampling

8. Cross-Polarized Light Microscopy (CPLM)
Mussel veligers exhibit unique characteristics under CPLM
Care is necessary in order to discern between veligers and other organisms
Mussel veligers on top – round, clam shaped with “X” pattern on shell under cross polarized light. The ”X” occurs due to the calcium carbonate composition of the shell – it reflects light through the cross polarized lenses at a 90 deg. Angle, thus creating the bright “X” mark. Ostracods (seed shrimp) in bottom picture. These are not even in the clam family, rather are a type of zoo-plankton. However, they similarly reflect light under cross polarizing lenses. Note the “kidney/jellybean” shape, and relatively larger size. The 4 larger organisms in the top half of the lower picture are ostracods, the 3 smaller organisms on the bottom half of the lower picture and the 1 smaller on the top half are mussel veligers.

9. Cross-Polarized Light Microscopy (CPLM)

10. Imaging Flow Cytometry - FlowCAM
Takes pictures of particles (sample) as they move through the flow cell
Selects images of particles that show birefringence under cross-polarized light and displays them in a collage
An automated version of using the microscope. Works on the sample principle of using cross polarized light, but takes pictures of the organisms as they are pumped through the glass capillary ”flow cell” at as rate of 12 pictures per second. These pictures of the organisms are later analyzed using photosoftware to identify the organisms in the sample. Processing samples on the microscope can take 3-4 hours per sample – this machine reduces the time to around 2 hours per sample.

11. Imaging Flow Cytometry - FlowCAM
An example of the photo-collage of pictures taken using the Flow-Cam. Data such as aspect ratio, length and width, and area of the organism is automatically collected and calculated and stored in a spreadsheet for viewing. Can you find the pictures that look like mussels? Note: this is a sample collected from Lake Mead.

12. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)
DNA Analysis
Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)
Proteins are responsible for controlling cellular metabolism, structure and function.