ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT Dreissenid mussels are known to occupy many freshwater systems throughout the United States. In particular, the quagga mussel (Dreissena rostriformis bugensis Anrusov 1897) has been an aggressively invasive species in Lake Mead, Nevada-Arizona, having spread rapidly both in numbers and in distribution. In this chapter, we provide an overview of carrying capacity in general and how it relates to models for mussel culture. Speci‘cally, we examine two facets of carrying capacity for the quagga mussel. The ‘rst model is a culture-based model by Incze et al. (1981) and is used to develop an estimate of carrying capacity in terms of total population size. The second model we explore is a box model and is used to simulate the amount of time it would take to reach the carrying capacity estimated in the ‘rst model. Using the Incze Model, we predicted a total of approximately 1.02 × 1013 mussels as the carrying capacity in Boulder Basin, with an approximated time to reach this capacity of around 19-21 years as predicted by the box model. Clearly, there are many different models that could potentially be explored, and the models presented herein could certainly be modi‘ed, expanded, and recon‘gured to answer a myriad of ecological questions (e.g., how circulation or basin water exchange affects the system). There are very few articles or reports that examine a mathematical approach to estimating carrying capacity in nonculture mussel systems. Our hope is that future research will be expanded in understanding invasive mussel species through the use of ecosystem-level and food web-level mathematical models.
