Michigan test kills over 80% of invasive zebra mussels in five days

Zebra mussels are small, but their impact on freshwater ecosystems can be enormous. Once established, the invasive shellfish can blanket lakebeds, crowd out native species and alter the communities that depend on them. Scientists in Michigan are now testing a surprisingly simple idea: cover the lakebed and turn up the carbon dioxide underneath. A 2024 experiment at Loon Lake in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore tested whether carbon dioxide could make benthic mats—a kind of heavy, flexible cover placed over the lake bottom—more effective at killing zebra mussels. The results suggest that the combination can work considerably faster than mats alone.Testing the mats in Loon LakeResearchers from the U.S. Geological Survey divided three areas of Loon Lake into treatment and reference plots. Each treatment area measured 4 by 4 meters, while the mats themselves were slightly larger to ensure that the lakebed was covered. The scientists tested two approaches.