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Thomas Diggins, visiting assistant professor of biology, published  "A seasonal comparison of suspended sediment filtration by quagga (Dreissena bugensis) and zebra (D. polymorpha) mussels" in the Journal of Great Lakes Research 27(4): 457-466.  Diggins found only a modest difference between the water filtration rates of these two species, a factor previously believed to be significantly different.  Diggins is one of only a few scientists working on comparing zebra and quagga mussels, work that is important in understanding contemporary Great Lakes ecology.

"I can wade into knee-deep water at Buffalo State Research Station (where this study was conducted), and pull up a rock that is 98 percent covered with quagga mussels.  Ten years ago the same rock would have housed nearly 100 percent zebra mussels."

Quagga and zebra mussels in the Great Lakes are invasive species originally from Eastern Europe.  They were unwittingly transported to the Great Lakes in the ballast water of freight ships.  Zebra mussels arrived first and established large colonies in the Lakes.  Recently quagga mussels have been more numerous than zebra mussels.  Before this study it was assumed to be because quagga mussels filtered food out of the water more successfully. Diggins is currently working to discover the reason why this is happening.

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