Invasion of the faucet snails
faculty and students lead the nation in assessing the health of the Great Lakes
The Institute for Great Lakes Research is using a $10 million government-funded grant to sample and assess the health of every coastal wetland in the Great Lakes.
"There are nine universities and three government agencies (involved in the project)," said Neil Schock, professional wetland technician. "It's a big Great Lakes nation-wide project through the (US Environmental Protection Agency's) Lake National Programs Office, (and) part of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative."
Headed by Director Don Uzarski, the institute is in charge of national research to assess the health of the Great Lakes' coasts. Their research includes taking a close look at invasive species like faucet snails, how wide-spread they are and discovers ways to manage their population.
"The No. 1 thing is to find out where it is, and then prevention will come through education," Uzarski said.
The institute is in the final year of its five-year grant. It has received national attention for its research into a non-native species called the faucet snail. The invasive species is causing changes to the Great Lakes' ecosystem.
The existence of the faucet snail in the Great Lakes threatens native snail species, waterfowl like blue bill ducks and coot and disrupts natural food-web dynamics.
"The main concern is they carry three intestinal flukes (parasites)," Schock said. "These intestinal flukes usually end up killing waterfowl that consume (the snails). North Central Minnesota and a couple of lakes at the upper Mississippi River have seen up to 9,000 dead birds from the invasion of the faucet snail."
Schock said the faucet snail came to North America in ship's ballast—rock, soil and vegetation gathered from Europe, which was used as weight to balance a ship on its return.
"They are native to Europe from Scandinavia all the way to Greece," Schock said. "We (Americans) were probably responsible for their indoctrination of the Great Lakes around 1870—they can track it back to the timber industry through shipping."
To prevent the spread of faucet snails and other destructive species, Uzarski said boaters should clean their boats with a diluted bleach solution when moving them to different locations.
"It's not going to be visible," Uzarski said. "Any vegetation on the boat potentially has invasive species associated with it, so you need to clean it out. We are not going to eradicate it, (but we) can manage it and do our best to adapt."
Junior Dominic Vendittelli is a wetland technician for the institute. Vendittelli shared why he values being a part of the Great Lakes Research program.
"I want to know how the environment is adversely (affected by) humans," Vendittelli said.
