Published In
Aquatic Invasions
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-2008
Subjects
New Zealand mudsnail -- Control, Introduced organisms
Abstract
The New Zealand mud snail Potamopyrgus antipodarum (Gray, 1843) is a common invasive species in fresh and brackish water ecosystems in Europe, Australia, Japan, and North America. In some invaded habitats, P. antipodarum can reach high densities (over 500,000 snails m-2) and dominate the biomass of the benthos, leading to detrimental impacts to native biota and changes in ecosystem dynamics. We report the previously unpublished occurrence of P. antipodarum in thirteen fresh and brackish water systems adjacent to the Pacific coast of North America including a new northern range for P. antipodarum: Port Alberni, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada (49.2479º, -124.8395º). We hypothesize the snail was spread from the Columbia River Estuary to Port Alberni via recreational watercraft or infected fishing equipment. Its discovery in Port Alberni reveals the potential for other aquatic nuisance species in the lower Columbia River to spread to British Columbia. Resource managers on the Pacific coast should remain vigilant and educate the public to prevent the further spread of the P. antipodarum as well as other aquatic invaders.
Rights
© 2008 by the author(s); licensee REABIC. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
DOI
10.3391/ai.2008.3.3.12
Persistent Identifier
http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/12359
Citation Details
Davidson, T.M., V.E.F. Brenneis, C. de Rivera, R. Draheim, and G.E. Gillespie. 2008. Northern range expansion and coastal occurrences of the New Zealand mud snail Potamopyrgus antipodarum (Gray, 1843) in the northeast Pacific. Aquatic Invasions 3(3):349-353.
Description
This is the publisher's final PDF. © 2008 by the author(s); licensee REABIC. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.