Michelle R Bartsch (Former Employee)

Zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) are invasive bivalves that have perturbed aquatic ecosystems within North America since their introduction in the mid-1980s. Control of zebra mussels has largely been restricted to raw water conveyance systems and associated infrastructures because few control products are registered for application in surface waters. The biopesticide Zequanox was...

Control technology for dreissenid mussels (Dreissena polymorpha and D. bugensis) currently relies heavily on chemical molluscicides that can be both costly and ecologically harmful. There is a need for more environmentally neutral tools to manage dreissenid mussels, particularly in cooler water. Carbon dioxide (CO2) has been shown to be lethal to several species of invasive bivalves...

Recent work indicates that the establishment of bigheaded carps (Hypophthalmichthys spp.) in the United States has led to a reduction in condition of native planktivores and may detrimentally affect other trophic levels by altering the base of aquatic food webs. We used fatty acids to evaluate potential effects of bigheaded carps on taxa from multiple trophic levels in the Upper...

Fatty acid and stable isotope signatures allow researchers to better understand food webs, food sources, and trophic relationships. Research in marine and lentic systems has indicated that the variance of these biomarkers can exhibit substantial differences across spatial and temporal scales, but this type of analysis has not been completed for large river systems. Our objectives were to...

Levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) that have been proposed for aquatic invasive species control (24 000 – 96 000 μatm partial pressure of CO2 (PCO2); 1 atm = 101.325 kPa) were tested on two juvenile mussels, the fatmucket (Lampsilis siliquoidea) and the US federally endangered Higgins’ eye (Lampsilis higginsii). A suite of responses (survival, growth, behavior, and gene expression) were...

Hydraulic connection between channels and floodplains (“connectivity”) is a fundamental determinant of ecosystem function in large floodplain rivers. Factors controlling material processing in these rivers depend not only on the degree of connectivity but also on the sediment conditions, nutrient loads, and source. Nutrient cycling in the nutrient‐rich upper Mississippi River (MISS) is...