Asian clams: Clean equipment

How is the evidence assessed?
  • Effectiveness
    75%
  • Certainty
    50%
  • Harms
    not assessed

Study locations

Key messages

  • A study in Portugal found that mechanical removal and regular cleaning of industrial pipes or addition of a sand filter were effective methods of permanently removing or reducing numbers of Asian clams, respectively.

 

About key messages

Key messages provide a descriptive index to studies we have found that test this intervention.

Studies are not directly comparable or of equal value. When making decisions based on this evidence, you should consider factors such as study size, study design, reported metrics and relevance of the study to your situation, rather than simply counting the number of studies that support a particular interpretation.

Supporting evidence from individual studies

  1. A study conducted in 1980-2010 at a power station and drinking water treatment plant in Portugal (Rosa et al. 2011) found that subjecting structures infested by the Asian clam Corbicula fluminea to cleaning, maintenance and sand filtration prevented or reduced re-infestation. At the power station, cleaning and maintenance procedures completely removed clam populations from the bypass channel of the power station and prevented re-infestation. At the treatment plant, installation of a multilayer sand-filter downstream from the raw water reservoir significantly reduced the amount of Asian clams passing through into the waterworks. Of the facilities managers interviewed, three out of 420 drinking water plants and two out of six power plants provided details on clam control. Managers were interviewed about past or current occurrence of clam infestation episodes, the types of structures affected, interventions in place and their degree of success. Interventions included mechanically removing and washing out clams, shortening the period between filter maintenance and regularly replacing sand in the multilayer sand filter.

    Study and other actions tested
Please cite as:

Aldridge, D., Ockendon, N., Rocha, R., Smith, R.K. & Sutherland, W.J. (2020) Some Aspects of Control of Freshwater Invasive Species. Pages 555-87 in: W.J. Sutherland, L.V. Dicks, S.O. Petrovan & R.K. Smith (eds) What Works in Conservation 2020. Open Book Publishers, Cambridge, UK.

Where has this evidence come from?

List of journals searched by synopsis

All the journals searched for all synopses

Control of Freshwater Invasive Species

This Action forms part of the Action Synopsis:

Control of Freshwater Invasive Species
Control of Freshwater Invasive Species

Control of Freshwater Invasive Species - Published 2017

Control of Freshwater Invasive Species Synopsis

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What Works in Conservation

What Works in Conservation provides expert assessments of the effectiveness of actions, based on summarised evidence, in synopses. Subjects covered so far include amphibians, birds, mammals, forests, peatland and control of freshwater invasive species. More are in progress.

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