Editor’s note: The above video shows KXAN’s morning headlines for Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024.
CENTRAL TEXAS (KXAN) — New reports indicate zebra mussel populations are down in Central Texas — but experts suggest that decline might not last long.
Patrick Ireland works as a district biologist at the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department Inland Fisheries. He told KXAN Thursday his office works with controlling authorities and universities who monitor zebra mussels populations, with those teams seeing declines in populations locally.
That downturn in zebra mussels is likely due to the high summer temperatures, as well as lowering water levels due to Central Texas’ ongoing drought, Ireland said. However, that’s not to say those minimized numbers will withstand.
“They’re a very resilient species,” Ireland said. “What previous research has shown in Texas is the population can be knocked back, but they’ll quickly bounce back once conditions improve.”
The zebra mussels situation is particularly unique in Texas, Ireland said, given our region’s climate. The species is native to the Eurasian area, located in northern, colder parts of the globe.
With Texas’ warmer climate, zebra mussels have developed a “bimodal reproductive pattern,” Ireland said: they spawn in the spring, but also have ideal conditions in Texas during the fall, leading to a second round of spawning, he said.
“Typically during the hot summer months that we experienced, that’s getting too hot for their liking,” he said. “So you have some mortality associated with that, so you can see a decrease in midsummer, but they’re just kind of hanging on and they’re trying to survive. And then, you can see those populations explode in the fall.”
For outdoor water recreationists, Ireland stressed the continued importance of properly cleaning and draining boats to make sure no standing water remains in them. For boats that have recently traveled in infected waters with zebra mussels, he said it’s critical to not immediately put those boats into un-infested waters to avoid further spread.
More details on zebra mussels in Central Texas are available on TPWD’s website.
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