Two toxins greater than the sum of their parts for zebra mussel control
Ann Arbor, MI — Invasive zebra mussels have plagued the Great Lakes since their arrival in the bilge water of ships from Europe in the mid 1980s. Researchers have identified numerous toxins to kill these pests, including exotic ingredients like chili pepper and Ethiopian soap berries. Whilst some are effective, all are damaging when released into the environment, and chlorine remains the workhorse of zebra mussel control. The less toxin which can be used to control zebra mussels the better.
A team from Cambridge University has shown that two toxins can work better than the sum of their parts. "It's like a left-right combination in boxing," Geoff Moggridge explains. "Each will hurt you on its own, but they will knock you out when used together."
The effectiveness of a toxin may be measured by the dose required to kill 90% of the mussels; this is one toxic unit. The Cambridge group has shown that when used in combination, as little as one tenth of a toxic unit can be as effective as one toxic unit of a single toxin. Thus much less amount of toxin could be dumped into the Great Lakes in order to control zebra mussels in power plants and water treatment works.
Original Publication Information
Results of this study, "Enhanced mortality of the biofouling zebra mussel, Dreissena polymorpha, through the application of combined control agents," are reported by Raquel Costa, Paul Elliott, David Aldridge and Geoff Moggridge in the latest issue (Volume 37, No. 2, pp. 272-278) of the Journal of Great Lakes Research, published by Elsevier, 2011.
Contacts
For more information about this study, contact Raquel Costa, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Coimbra, Pólo II, Rua Sílvio Lima, 3030-790 Coimbra, Portugal; raquel@cantab.net.
For information about the Journal of Great Lakes Research, contact Marlene Evans, Editor, National Water Research Institute, Environment Canada, 11 Innovation Boulevard, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 3H5, Canada; jglr@ec.gc.ca; (306) 975-5310.
Since 1967, IAGLR has served as the focal point for compiling and disseminating multidisciplinary knowledge on North America's Laurentian Great Lakes and other large lakes of the world and their watersheds. In part, IAGLR communicates this knowledge through publication of the Journal of Great Lakes Research, available to members in print and electronic form. A searchable archive of the journal is available online and includes the abstracts of articles from the journal's inception in 1975 through the most recent issue. In addition, complete articles are available to members who have signed up for an electronic subscription.