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Abstract (from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/fwb.12290/abstract): Freshwater mussels (Unionidae) are a highly imperilled faunal group. One critical threat is thermal sensitivity, because global climate change and other anthropogenic activities contribute to increasing stream temperature and altered hydrologic flow that may be detrimental to freshwater mussels. We incorporated four benthic environmental components – temperature, sediment, water level (a surrogate for flow) and a vertical thermal gradient in the sediment column – in laboratory mesocosm experiments with juveniles of two species of freshwater mussels (Lampsilis abrupta and Lampsilis radiata) and tested their effects on survival, burrowing...
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Freshwater mussels native to the Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States are highly imperiled due to habitat alteration and destruction, pollution and poor water quality, and the introduction of aquatic invasive species. Even greater risks to these species stem from the stresses associated with climate change-induced sea level rise, such as changes in salinity, water temperature, and stream flow. This research investigates the potential vulnerability and adaptation of native freshwater mussels associated with changes in salinity. This dataset contains raw survival and LC50 data generated when conducting acute toxicity tests on three species of freshwater mussels, exposing them to a synthetic sea...
Sea levels across the planet are rising, particularly along the eastern coast of the United States. Climate-induced sea level rise can result in the inundation and intrusion of seawater into freshwater drainages. This would alter salinity regimes and lead to the salinization of coastal freshwater ecosystems. Increased salinity levels in freshwater can negatively affect freshwater-dependent species, including native mussels belonging to the order Unionida, which are highly sensitive to changes in water quality. Sea salt is largely made up of sodium and chloride ions, forming sodium chloride, a known toxicant to freshwater mussels. However, sea salt is a mixture that also contains other major ions, including potassium,...
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Native freshwater mussels of the family Unionidae are experiencing high imperilment status due to habitat alteration and destruction, pollution and poor water quality, and the introduction of aquatic invasive species. The Southeastern, Mid-Atlantic, and Midwestern regions of the United States contain the greatest biodiversity of native freshwater mussels in the world and are now at even greater risk from the continued stresses of human-mediated changes to the landscape through urban and rural development, mining activities, climate change, nutrient influx and their associated impacts to water and sediment quality. The specific objectives of this study are to (1) Compare the relative sensitivity of early life stages...
Abstract: Rising environmental temperatures result from changes in land use and global climate and can cause significant shifts in the composition and distribution of species within communities. In freshwater systems, the larval life stage, glochidia, of Unionida mussels develops as an obligate parasite on host fish gills or fins before transforming into the juvenile stage and dropping to the sediment to complete the life cycle. Because of the relationship between freshwater mussels and their often specific host fish species, mussels are not only limited by their own variable thermal tolerances, but also by those of their host fish. Our intent was to compile data from available literature regarding thermal sensitivities...
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The Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States contain the greatest biodiversity of native freshwater mussels in the world, but they are highly imperiled due to habitat alteration and destruction, pollution and poor water quality, and the introduction of aquatic invasive species. Now they are at even greater risk from the stresses associated with climate change-induced sea level rise and its associated changes in salinity, water temperature, and stream flow. This project investigates the potential vulnerability and adaptation of a native freshwater mussel, the Tidewater Mucket, in coastal river systems and offer solutions for its conservation. Scientists have recently discovered a population of...
Summary (from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/fwb.12807/abstract) Conservation of freshwater unionid mussels presents unique challenges due to their distinctive life cycle, cryptic occurrence and imperilled status. Relevant ecological information is urgently needed to guide their management and conservation. We adopted a modelling approach, which is a novel application to freshwater mussels to enhance inference on rare species, by borrowing data among species in a hierarchical framework to conduct the most comprehensive occurrence analysis for freshwater mussels to date. We incorporated imperfect detection to more accurately examine effects of biotic and abiotic factors at multiple scales on the occurrence...
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The overall goal of this SSP project was to evaluate the exposure and toxicological effects of contaminant stressors in the water and sediment of the Clinch River in areas of high mussel decline in Virginia and in areas of high abundance and recruitment in Virginia and Tennessee. The investigation also included an assessment of major tributary streams with varied histories of degradation, recovery and disturbance. The specific objectives of this project were to: 1. Integrate existing data sets on mussel populations, NPDES discharges, mining and other energy permitted activities, pesticide use, and land use. 2. Using passive sampling devices, measure water concentrations of a suite of polar and non-polar organic...
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North American freshwater mussels are in serious decline as a result of pollution and habitat destruction from human activities. In addition, many mussel species are living in habitats that push the upper limits of their heat tolerance, which may become problematic as the climate and, as a result, water temperatures warm. As part of this project, we created a set of models to predict how freshwater mussels would respond to climate change effects. Our primary objective was to help federal and state natural resource managers forecast how mussel species will respond to climate change over the next 30 to 50 years, so that managers can develop appropriate adaptation strategies to address these changes. Additionally,...
Freshwater mussels fulfill an important ecological role in aquatic ecosystems, but they currently face many threats, including thermal regime alteration. Thermal transformation of the aquatic environment is associated with climate change, land use alteration, and other pervasive anthropogenic global changes. To enhance our understanding of ecological thermal impacts, we combined extensive field measurements of temperature in the stream water column and substrate depths (5 and 15 cm) at sites where mussels occur, measures of abundance and species richness for mussels and fish, and thermal tolerance knowledge for mussels and fish to generate a comprehensive assessment of the potential threats mussels face as temperatures...
Categories: Publication; Types: Citation


    map background search result map search result map Modeling the Response of Freshwater Mussels to Changes in Water Temperature, Habitat, and Streamflow Endangered Freshwater Mussel Declines in the Clinch River: An in situ Assessment of Water Quality Stressors in the Watershed Impacts of Sea Level Rise on At-risk Native Freshwater Mussels in Atlantic Coastal Rivers Raw survival and LC50 data generated from acute toxicity tests conducted on three species of freshwater mussels Endangered Freshwater Mussel Declines in the Clinch River: An in situ Assessment of Water Quality Stressors in the Watershed Impacts of Sea Level Rise on At-risk Native Freshwater Mussels in Atlantic Coastal Rivers Raw survival and LC50 data generated from acute toxicity tests conducted on three species of freshwater mussels Modeling the Response of Freshwater Mussels to Changes in Water Temperature, Habitat, and Streamflow