Effects of Elevated Carbon Dioxide Concentrations on Survivorship in Zebra Mussels (Dreissena polymorpha)

• Main Authors: Payne, Barry S., Miller, Andrew, Adams, Ginny, McMahon, Robert F., Matthews, Milton A.
• Other Authors: ARMY ENGINEER WATERWAYS EXPERIMENT STATION VICKSBURG MS
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1998
• Subjects: Biology; Inorganic Chemistry; *CARBON DIOXIDE; *MUSSELS; CHEMICAL REACTIONS; MORTALITY RATE; INVERTEBRATES; AQUATIC ORGANISMS; CHLORINATION; PH FACTOR; CHLORINE; AQUATIC BIOLOGY; DREISSENA POLYMORPHA; CARBONIC ACID; ZEBRA MUSSELS; Arlington; Carbonic acid
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA360060; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA360060

Many aquatic invertebrate animals, including bivalves, are intolerant of even relatively modest increases in the ambient concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2). This intolerance is based on the chemical reaction of CO with water to form carbonic acid. Carbon dioxide has the potential to be used as a molluscicide for zebra mussel control because these organisms, like almost all bivalves, do not contain the oxygen-carrying proteins to buffer blood pH. Instead, they less efficiently mobilize shell CO3(2) as the main blood buffer. Previous studies have indicated that zebra mussels could be sensitive to elevated carbon dioxide. Pretreatment with CO2 greatly increased the mortality rate of mussels on subsequent exposure to lethal levels of chlorine. It was suggested that initial treatment with carbon dioxide induced valve gaping, which increased mussel sensitivity to chlorination. Carbon dioxide is relatively inexpensive, nonhazardous to humans, environmentally neutral, and readily and rapidly biodegraded by photosynthetic organisms. Prepared in collaboration with the Univ. of Texas at Arlington.