Impact of introduced juvenile mussel cultures on the pelagic ecosystem of the western Wadden Sea, The Netherlands

Pelagic mussel collectors provide an alternative to fishing for mussel seed from natural beds. These collectors, which have been recently introduced in the Dutch part of the Wadden Sea, facilitate the settlement and survival of blue mussel Mytilus edulis larvae. We assessed the removal of plankton by juvenile mussels and the recovery of plankton after filtration. A mesocosm experiment, using natural sea water, was executed on 12 occasions from June to October in 2010 and 2011. Mussel filtration resulted in large reductions in nanophytoplankton, ciliate and total chlorophyll biomasses (65-62%),... Mehr ...