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Bij de Vaate, Abraham. 1998. Ecological Aspects of Nonindigenous Macroinvertabrate Species in the Lower Rhine, the Netherlands. Institute for Inland Waste Water Management and Waste Water Treatment Abstracts from the Eighth International Zebra Mussel and Other Nuisance Species Conference, Sacramento California March 16-19, 1998 Ecological Aspects of Nonindigenous Macroinvertebrate Species in the Lower Rhine, The NetherlandsWithin the international framework of ecological rehabilitation of the River Rhine water quality has been improved considerably. However, remaining changes in water chemistry and physics, mainly caused by the discharge of salts by potassium mines and thermal pollution respectively, are considered to be the most important factors for the colonization of the river by nonindigenous species. Recently >90% of the macroinvertebrates found in the main channel do not belong to the autochthonous fauna. Dominant species are the Caspian mud shrimp (Corophium curvispinum), the gammarid Gammarus tigrinus, the zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha), and two Asiatic clam species (Corbicula fluminea and C. fluminalis). Although all these species are able to occur in high densities, they do not have a nuisance character in the River Rhine. Their status will be discussed and ecological data of these species will be presented. Contact: Abraham bij de Vaate, Institute for Inland Waste Water Management
and Waste Water Treatment, P.O. Box 17, Lelystad 8200AA, The Netherlands |