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Mussel
Biodiversity
Why
study mussels? | Surveys
of Oklahoma Rivers | NSF Biodiversity
Project
Why
Study Mussels?
The
freshwater mussel (Mollusca, Bivalvia, Unionidae) fauna of North
American rivers and streams is the most diverse in the world,
but is highly threatened and declining at an alarming rate. The
consequences of this catastrophic decline of an entire family
go beyond the loss of species. Mussels serve critical trophic
and non-trophic roles in the functioning of riverine ecosystems.
Because mussels can achieve very high densities and are filter
feeders, they are important seston consumers and play a significant
role in both energetics and particle dynamics in rivers. Because
of their dependence on appropriate substrate and flow conditions,
mussels are naturally patchily distributed in many rivers, occurring
in densely aggregated multi-species "beds". The living mussels
and their spent shells in these beds provide habitat for other
benthic macroinvertebrates, alter hydraulic and sediment dynamics
at the benthic-water interface, and stabilize the substrate. Through
their feeding activities mussels provide nutrients to the remainder
of the benthos. Thus, the current decline in mussel species also
represents a loss of critical habitat and food resources for other
aquatic fauna, and may alter the ecosystem functioning in many
North American rivers. In addition, there are likely benthic macroinvertebrates
that have coevolved with mussel assemblages and are specifically
dependent on them. No one has ever surveyed the benthic invertebrates
specifically associated with mussel assemblages. As mussel populations
decline these other invertebrates species are also being lost.
Surveys
of Oklahoma Rivers
The
Oklahoma Biological Survey is conducting surveys of the freshwater
mussels of the major rivers in Oklahoma. We have completed surveys
of the Little, Glover, Kiamichi, Mountain Fork, Blue, Illinois,
Spring, Neosho, Caney and Verdigris rivers, portions of several
other major rivers, and numerous smaller streams. Species lists
for the above rivers are available upon request.
NSF
Biodiversity Project
The
Oklahoma Biological survey is surveying freshwater mussels, and
the macroinvertebrate fauna associated with assemblages of mussels,
in rivers throughout the Ouachita Mountains Physiographic Subprovince
in central and western Arkansas and southeastern Oklahoma, U.S.
with funding from the Biotic Surveys and Inventories Program of
the National Science Foundation. The Ouachita Uplands represent
one of the last strongholds of freshwater biodiversity in North
America, and may represent one of the last strongholds of freshwater
mussel biodiversity in the world. The Ouachitas are unglaciated
and have been isolated from other mountain systems for 225 million
years. They are a center of speciation for both terrestrial and
aquatic organisms, with a high number of endemic species. The
rivers have been far less impacted by human disturbance than faunas
of more eastern and western U.S. rivers, largely because the area
is relatively unpopulated and undeveloped. Thus, the rivers of
the Ouachita Uplands may represent one of the few areas in North
America where conservation of an intact mussel fauna may be possible.
Mussel
and benthic macroinvertebrate voucher specimens are being deposited
in appropriate museums and mussel tissue samples are being deposited
with the U.S.G.S. Leetown Science Center genetic tissue repository
and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Heart of the Hills Research Station.
Mussel and benthic macroinvertebrate data will made available
on the dedicated World Wide Web server of the Oklahoma Biological
Survey and published in the peer-reviewed literature. In addition,
the data collected on the distribution of freshwater mussels and
associated benthic macroinvertebrates also will be applicable
to a diversity of conceptual problems in biology, many of which
have important conservation implications. Finally, because the
data to be collected are quantitative, they will serve as invaluable
baseline data for monitoring these sites in the future. We will
be able to tell if species or communities are faring poorly before
they are in danger of going extinct by comparing long-term abundance,
composition, and demographic patterns. In particular, this project
will provide baseline data for determining the effects of an invasive
exotic species, the zebra mussel, on the declining, native mussel
fauna.
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