National Aquatic Invasive Species Risk Assessment for Zebra and Quagga Mussels in Canada

Fisheries and Oceans Canada provides a national ecological risk assessment for Zebra and Quagga mussels, completed in April 2022. The assessment models risk at a 9,260 m grid cell resolution and sub-drainage levels, based on factors like propagule pressure, habitat suitability, and ecological impact. The dataset includes high-resolution maps and is sourced from Wilcox et al. 2024.

Use Cases

• Modeling habitat suitability for invasive mussels based on calcium levels and Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) models mentioned in the description.
• Prioritizing management actions based on maps of Ecological Risk at the sub-drainage level.
• Informing early detection and regulatory measures using the Potential for Introduction and Establishment risk layers.
• Assessing ecological and economic impact risks for freshwater ecosystems using the derived Ecological Risk scores.

Strengths

• Assessment conducted at a high spatial resolution of 9,260 m x 9,260 m grid cells.
• Risk derived from multiple factors: Potential for Introduction, Establishment, Invasion, and Ecological Impacts.
• Includes data at both high-resolution grid and sub-drainage area levels.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The assessment did not evaluate risk to individual waterbodies, focusing on a broader grid-based analysis.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Collection Method

Ecological risk assessment modeling using factors like propagule pressure, habitat suitability (Calcium-based and MaxEnt models), and ecological impact.

Time Range

Assessment completed April 2022.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-24 08:04:05.341849; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Freshwater ecosystems in Canada.