Abstract
In 1992, we discovered populations of the nonindigenous quagga mussel Dreissena rostriformis bugensis in the middle reaches of the Volga River. The same species was found in samples collected between 1994 and 1997 in the Volga delta and in shallow areas of the Northern Caspian Sea. D. r. bugensis always co-occurred with its more widespread congener, the zebra mussel D. polymorpha (Pallas 1771). The quagga mussel's contribution to total Dreissena abundance increased over time in the middle Volga reservoirs and Volga River delta. D. r. bugensis was common in the Volga portion of Rybinsk Reservoir during 1997 and, by 2000, it was in Uglich, Rybinsk and Gorky Reservoirs on the Upper Volga River. D. r. bugensis was neither found in Ivankov Reservoir, nor in terminal sections of the Volga-Baltic corridor including the eastern Gulf of Finland. Presently, all but the northern-most regions of the Volga River have been colonized by D. r. bugensis. We hypothesize that its introduction into the Volga River and Caspian basin occurred no later than the late 1980s via commercial shipping that utilized the Volga-Don waterway to navigate between the source Black-Azov Sea region and recipient areas on the Volga River. Larval drift likely contributed to establishment of populations at downstream sites, while human-mediated vectors may be responsible for introductions to upstream locations on the Volga River. We anticipate continued northward dispersal in conjunction with shipping activities.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alekin O.A. 1953. Fundamentals of hydrochemistry. Hydrometeisdat Publishers, Leningrad, Russia 296 pp. (in Russian)
Andrusov N.I. 1890. Dreissena rostriformis Desh. In the Bug River. Trudy S-Peterburgskago Obschestva Estestvoispitatelei. Department of Geology and Mineralogy: 1–2. (in Russian)
Andrusov N.I. 1897. Fossil and recent Dreissenidae of Eurasia.Trudy S-Peterburgskago Obschestva Estestvoispitatelei. Department of Geology and Mineralogy 25: 1–683. (in Russian with German summary)
Antonov P.I. 1993. About invasion of bivalve Dreissena bugensis (Andr.) into the Volga River Reservoirs. Ecological problems of large rivers basins. Book of abstracts of international conference, Togliatti, Russia, 6–10 September, 1993. Publishers of IEVB RAS, Togliatti, Russia: 52–53. (in Russian)
Baldwin B.S., Mayer M.S., Dayton J., Pau N., Mendilla J., Sullivan M., Moore A., Ma A. and Mills E.L. 2002. Comparative growth and feeding in zebra and quagga mussels (Dreissena polymorpha and Dreissena bugensis): implications for North American lakes. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 59: 680–694.
Bij de Vaate A., Jaz´dz´ewski K., Ketelaars H.A.M., Gollasch S. and van der Velde G. 2002. Geographical patterns in range extension of Ponto-Caspian macroinvertebrate species in Europe. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 59: 1159–1174.
Bylinkina A.A. 2001. Hydro chemical characteristic.. In: Ecological problems of the Upper Volga. Publishers of IBIW, Yaroslavl, Russia: 26–37. (in Russian)
Bylinkina A.A., Trifonova N.A., Kudriavtzeva N.A., Kalinina L.A. and Genkal L.F. 1982. Hydro chemical regime of Sheksna reservoir and water-bodies of Northern Dvina River system. In: Butorin N.V. (ed.), Ecological Researches of Water Bodies of Volgo-Baltic and Northern Dvina River Waterways. Nauka Publishers, Leningrad, Russia. pp 48–69. (in Russian)
Dall P.C. and Hamburger K. 1996. Recruitment and growth of Dreissena polymorpha in Lake Esrom, Denmark. Limnologica 26: 27–37.
Darr A. and Zettler M.L. 2000. De Erstnachweis von Congeria leucophaeata (Conrad 1831) in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Bivalvia: Dreissenidae). Malakologische Abhandlungen Staatliches Museum für Tierkunde Dresden, Band 20, Nr 19, Ausgegeben 5, pp 197–200.
Gollasch S., Leppäkoski E. 1999. Initial risk assessment of alien species in Nordic coastal waters. Nord 8, Copenhagen, 245 pp.
Horvath T.G., Lamberti G.A., Lodge D.M. and Perry W.L. 1996. Zebra mussel dispersal in lake-stream systems: source-sink dynamics? J. North Amer. Benth. Soc. 15: 2049–2057.
Johnson L.E. and Carlton J.T. 1996. Post-establishment spread in large-scale invasions: dispersal mechanisms of the zebra mussel Dreissena polymorpha. Ecology 77: 1686–1690.
Johnson L.E. and Padilla D.K. 1996. Geographic spread of exotic species: ecological lessons and opportunities from the invasion of the zebra mussel Dreissena polymorpha. Biol. Conserv. 78: 23–33.
Johnson L.E., Ricciardi A. and Carlton J.T. 2001. Overland dispersal of aquatic invasive species: a risk assessment of transient recreational boating. Ecol. Applic. 11: 1789–1799.
Karataev A.Y., Burlakova L.E., Padilla D.K. 1998. Physical factors that limit the distribution and abundance of Dreissena polymorpha (Pall.) J. of Shellfish Res. 17(3): 1219–1235.
Karpevich A.F. 1975. Theory and practice of acclimatisation of aquatic organisms. Pishchevaya promyshlennost, Moscow, Russia. 432 pp. (in Russian)
Kharchenko T.A. 1995. Dreissena: range, ecology, fouling impacts. Hydrobiological Journal 31: 3–20. (in Russian)
Kinzelbach R. 1992. The main features of the phylogeny and dispersal of the zebra mussel Dreissena polymorpha. Limnol. Aktuell 4: 5–17.
Leppäkoski E. and Olenin S. 2001. The meltdown of biogeographical peculiarities of the Baltic Sea: the interaction of natural and man-made processes. Ambio 30: 202–209.
Leppäkoski E., Gollasch S. and Olenin S. (eds) 2002. Invasive Aquatic Species of Europe. Distribution, Impacts and Management. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 583 pp.
MacIsaac H.J., Grigorovich I.A. and Ricciardi A. 2001. Reassessment of species invasion concepts: the Great Lakes basin as a model. Biol. Invas. 3: 405–416.
Mackie G.L. 1991. Biology of the exotic zebra mussel, Dreissena polymorpha, in relation to native bivalves and its potential importance in Lake St. Clair. Hydrobiologia 219: 251–268.
Marelli D.C. and Gray S. 1983. Conchological redescriptions of Mytilopsis sallei and Mytilopsis leucophaeta of the brackish western Atlantic (Bivalvia: Dreissenidae). The Veliger 25: 185–193.
Mills E.L., Rosenberg G., Spidle A.P., Ludyansky M. and Pligin Y. 1996. A review of biology and ecology of the quagga mussel (Dreissena bugensis), a second species of freshwater Dreissenid introduced to North America. Amer. Zool. 36: 271–286.
Mills E.L., Casselman J.M., Dermott R., Fitzsimons J.D., Gal G., Holeck K.T., Hoyle J.A., Johannsson O.E., Lantry B.F., Makarewicz J.C., Millard E.S., Munawar I.F., Munawar M., O'Gorman R., Owens R.W., Rudstam L.G., Schaner T. and Stewart T.J. 2003. Lake Ontario: food web dynamics in a changing ecosystem (1970–2000). Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 60: 471–490.
Mordukhai-Boltovskoi F.D. 1960. Caspian Fauna in Azov and Black Sea Basin. Publishers of the Academy of Science, Moscow, Russia, 288 pp. (in Russian)
Nikulina V.N. 2003. Seasonal dynamics of phytoplankton in the inner Neva Estuary in the 1980s and 1990s. Oceanologia 45: 25–39.
Nowak E. 1971. The range expansion of animals and its cause. Zeszyty Naukowe No. 3: 1–255. Translation by the Smithsonian Institution and National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C. Foreign Science Publication Department of the National Center for Science, Technology and Economic Information, Warsaw, Poland, 1975: 1–163.
Olenin S., Orlova M. and Minchin D. 1999. Dreissena polymorpha (Pallas 1771). In: Gollasch S., Minchin D., Rosenthal H. and Voigh M. (eds), Case Histories on Introduced Species: Their General Biology, Distribution, Range Expansion and Impact. University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany, pp 38–42.
Orlova M.I. 2000. Volgo-Caspian basin as donor and recipient of bioinvasions of aquatic invertebrates. Proc. Murmansk Mar. Biol. Inst: 58–76. (in Russian)
Orlova M.I. and Shcherbina G.H. 2002. About range expansion of Dreissena bugensis Andr. (Dreissenidae, Bivalvia) in Upper Volga Reservoirs. Zool. Journal 81(5): 515–520. (in Russian)
Orlova M.I., Arakelova E.A. and Komendantov A. Yu. 1999. To co-occurrence of Dreissena bugensis Andr. and Dreissena polymorpha Pall. in the Volga delta and shallow waters of the Northern Caspian Sea. Jubilee Conference 'State, research and conservation of landscapes of Astrakhan' biosphere reserve in conditions of Caspian Sea level rise and increasing anthropogenic load' Book of Abstracts, 23–28 August, 1999, Astrakhan, Russia, pp. 67–69. (in Russian)
Pligin Yu.V. 1979. Extension of Dreissena bugensis (Andr.) range. Molluscs 6: 222–224. (in Russian)
Pollux B., Minchin D., Van der Velde G., Van Alen T., Moon-Van Der Staay S.Y. and Hackstein J. 2003. Zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) in Ireland, AFLP-fingerprinting and boat traffic both indicate an origin from Britain. Freshwat. Biol. 48: 1127–1139.
Ricciardi A. and MacIsaac H.J. 2000. Recent mass invasion of the North American Great Lakes by Ponto-Caspian species. Trends Ecol. Evol. 16: 62–65.
Ricciardi A. 2001. Facilitative interactions among aquatic invaders: is an 'invasional meltdown' occurring in the Great Lakes? Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 58: 2513–2525.
Rosenberg G. and Ludyanskiy M.L. 1994. A nomenclatural review of Dreissena (Bivalvia: Dreissenidae), with identification of the quagga mussel as Dreissena bugensis. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 51: 1474–1484.
Scalskaya I.A. 2000. Dreissena (Dreissena polymorpha (Pall.)) from the Upper Volga: range expansion, structure of populations and modern rates of recruitment. Biology of inland waters 3: 68–78. (in Russian)
Shkorbatov G.L. and Antonov P.I. 1990. Methods of ecological researches. In: Starobogatov Y.I. (ed.), Methods for Studies of Bivalve Mollusks. Proceedings of the Zoological Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R. 190, pp. 45–62. (in Russian)
Simberloff D. and Von Holle B. 1999. Positive interactions of nonindigenous species: invasion meltdown? Biol. Invas. 1: 21–32.
Slyn'ko Y.V., Korneva L.G., Rivier I.K., Papchenkov V.G., Scherbina K.H., Orlova M.I. and Therriault T.W. 2002. The Caspian-Volga-Baltic invasion corridor. In: Leppäkoski E.S., Gollasch S. and Olenin S. (eds), Invasive Aquatic Species of Europe. Distribution, Impacts and Management. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, pp. 399–411.
Smit H., Bij de Vaate A. and Foole A. 1992. Shell growth of the zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha (Pallas)) in relation to selected physiological parameters in the Lower Rhine and some associated lakes. Arch. Hydrobiol. 124: 257–280.
Starobogatov Y.I. and Andreeva S.I. 1994. Range and its history. In: Starobogatov Y.I. (ed.), Dreissena polymorpha (Pall,) (Bivalvia, Dreissenidae). Taxonomy, Ecology and Practical Meaning. Nauka Publishers, Moscow, Russia, pp. 47–55. (in Russian)
Stoeckmann A. 2003. Physiological energetics of Lake Erie dreissenid mussels: a basis for the displacement of Dreissena polymorpha by Dreissena bugensis. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 60: 126–134.
Therriault T.W., Docker M.F., Orlova M.I., Heath D.D. and MacIsaac H.J. 2004. Molecular resolution of Dreissenidae (Mollusca: Bivalvia), and first report of Mytilopsis leucophaeata in the Black Sea basin. Mol. Phyl. Evol. 30: 479–489.
Van der Velde G., Rajagopal S., Kelleher B., Musko I.B. and Bij de Vaate A. 2000. Ecological impact of crustacean invaders: General consideration and examples from the Rhine River. In: von Vaupel Klein J.C. and Schram F.R. (eds), Biodiversity Crisis and Crustacea: Proceedings of the 5th International Crustacean Congress, Crustacean Issues 12: 3–33.
Zhuravel P.A. 1951. About Dreissena bugensis (Mollusca) from the system of the Dnieper River and about it's recent appearance in Dneprovskoye Reservoir. Zoological Journal 30: 186–188. (in Russian)
Zhuravel P.A. 1967. About range expansion of Dreissena bugensis in artificial water bodies. Hydrobiological Journal 3: 87–90. (in Russian)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Orlova, M.I., Muirhead, J.R., Antonov, P.I. et al. Range expansion of quagga mussels Dreissena rostriformis bugensis in the Volga River and Caspian Sea basin. Aquatic Ecology 38, 561–573 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-004-0311-y
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-004-0311-y