lake. Use the animation to help you come up with an answer to the following:
Why do you see increases and decreases in the invasive species population?
What are the implications associated with these alterations to the ecosystem as a whole?
The Effects of Zebra and Quagga Mussels Introduced into a Freshwater Lake
As you have learned, population dynamics are caused by the biotic potential of the population and the effects of
environmental resistance. When there is minimal environmental resistance impacting a population, it will exhibit a population
explosion. One reason for minimal resistance could be factors that no longer regulate a population (e.g., predator decline or
resource increases). Another reason for a population explosion is the introduction of an invasive species. Invasive species
are species foreign to an ecosystem and are not immediately regulated by the environmental restraints of the particular
ecosystem that they invade. This in turn allows their populations to grow seemingly uncontrolled and to displace other
indigenous populations. Examples of such an invasive species into North America are dreissenid mussels, commonly known
as zebra and quagga mussels. Their introduction into the Great Lakes has caused economic hardship and a reorganization
of the ecosystem. This has led, in part, to pollutioncausing
effects that can be linked to an alga known as Cladophora.
Ecosystems are webs of intricately balanced interactions. But what happens when a new species is introduced that uses a
disproportionate share of the ecosystem’s resources?
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