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Author: Speight, Laura
Email: hard8ranch@gmail.com
Phone: 9036722030
Organization: Caddo Biocontrol Alliance
Address:
4050 FM 727,
Jefferson,
TX,
75657
Abstract Title: INVISIBLE ZEBRA MUSSEL LARVAE: WHAT DOGS' NOSES CAN TELL US ABOUT WHAT WE CAN'T SEE Aimee Hurt, Working Dogs for Conservation, Bozeman, MT, 59771, USA and Laura Speight, Caddo Biocontrol Alliance, Uncertain, TX 75661, USA
Abstract Text: Working Dogs for Conservation and colleagues investigated the ability of dogs to assess whether lake water is harboring invisible larval mussels (called veligers). In May 2017, seven dogs trained to adult zebra and quagga mussels were exposed to water samples from eight reservoirs in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Samples ranged from zero to 68 veligers per liter of water, and dogs were asked to select the infested samples in a bucket among a line-up of similar buckets. Water samples were then poured on watercraft to see if comparable results were achieved. Finally, the dogs conducted inspections on watercraft leaving an infested reservoir, and searched shorelines for juvenile mussels attached to substrate. This is the first time that dogs have been asked to assess water from multiple waterbodies—thus “sort through†various background plankton odor—and then proceed beyond line-ups to ascertain real-world applications. This presentation will include the possible implications for watercraft inspections and screening of water samples in mussel monitoring efforts.
Conference
Year: TIPPC_2018
Presentation Type: Oral Presentation
Presenter Type (Student or Regular): Regular
Session: 4. Research
Submission Date: 2018-05-19
