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August 14, 2019
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Daywatch
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As Asian carp have stormed up the Illinois
River in the past several decades, looming precariously close to Lake
Michigan, scientists have been forced to ponder an alarming question: What if
the invasive species actually breached the world’s fifth-largest lake?
Since the 1990s, invasive
mussels have devoured so much of Lake Michigan’s plankton that some experts
have wondered whether Asian carp would be able to survive if they arrive
here. Even if they could, some believe the carp would be limited to areas
near shore where plankton is still plentiful instead of open water, which has
essentially become a food desert. A new study has turned that thinking on its head.
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