Modeling the Survival and Population Growth of the Freshwater Mussel, Lampsilis radiata luteola

Matter, Stephen F.; Borrero, Francisco J.; Fleece, Cody

doi:10.1674/0003-0031-169.1.122

Cited by 7 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…When examining the causes of population declines, we must examine whether lowered survivorship reduced recruitment or both led to population declines. Matter, Borrero, and Fleece () and Hastie () attributed declining populations to lack of recruitment. Hastie () suggested a cut‐off of a minimum of 10% of a population being juveniles for a population to be “successfully recruiting.” Most of the populations in our study had fewer than 10% of the population made up of juveniles, but Margaritifera margaritifera studied by Hastie () is one of the slowest growing and long‐lived unionoids, thus a 10% cut‐off may be too high a threshold for our populations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Long‐term decline of native freshwater mussel assemblages in a federally protected river

et al. 2017

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Freshwater systems are increasingly threatened by human impacts. To effectively monitor and manage these systems, reference or baseline conditions need to be documented to establish restoration or management goals. Freshwater mussel (Unionoida) communities are in decline in many river systems worldwide. Yet there are few long‐term quantitative studies in relatively “pristine” habitats that could serve as “reference” locations. Here, we present the results of a 20‐year quantitative monitoring study of mussel assemblages in a federally protected river in the United States. We found significant declines in mussel abundance (41%) and species richness (16%) over the 20‐year period, while mussel species evenness and Shannon's diversity index values increased over time (19.3% and 12.1%, respectively). This, combined with an analysis of community composition change trajectories, suggests the declines were disproportionately higher for common species than for rare species. Variation in life‐history traits of macroinvertebrates is often used to assess the degree of degradation of aquatic systems. Using Haag's (2012) classification of mussel life‐history traits, we found the proportion of opportunistic species (fast growth, high reproductive output, short lifespan) decreased by 65.3%, while the proportion of equilibrium species (slow growth, long lifespan, lower investment in reproduction) increased by 54.6% and the proportion of periodic species (moderate‐to‐high growth rates, low‐to‐intermediate fecundity, lifespan and age at maturity) increased by 82.4%. There were modest changes in human population and land use in the catchment during our study period, and a change in the operation of a hydroelectric dam reduced discharge variability. Sediment size changed at several study sites, increasing at some sites while decreasing at others. This study occurred in one of the best‐protected and most pristine rivers in the upper Midwest of the United States, harbouring one of the region's most intact mussel fauna that could be used as a “reference” to set goals for the restoration of mussel fauna in other river systems. Despite the high quality and protection of this river system, we found slow declines in the mussel community but found no evidence that changes in land use, flow regime, water quality, the spread of invasive species or increased sedimentation were responsible for these declines. The slow decline of mussels and lack of specific causes in such a river underscore the imperilment of this fauna, and the need for more aggressive conservation, management and research approaches.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Potential Mechanisms For These Changesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long‐term decline of native freshwater mussel assemblages in a federally protected river

et al. 2017

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“…Although streamflow augmentation favourably affected water temperature and dissolved oxygen concentrations, we found no support for flow augmentation affecting apparent survival or mussel behaviour in our study reaches. Estimated apparent survival between primary sampling occasions was high among all species and comparable with those observed in similar studies (89%, Hamilton et al ., ; 84%, Villella et al ., ; 75–98%, Meador et al ., ; 49–58%, Matter et al ., ; and 89–99%, Wisniewski et al ., ). Apparent survival of mussels in Apalachicola River, Florida, was attributed to microhabitat preferences among species with high species survival occurring in suitable habitats (Hamilton et al ., ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Evaluation of Streamflow Augmentation as a Short-Term Freshwater Mussel Conservation Strategy

2015

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Recurrent and prolonged droughts, coupled with increased water resource demand, threaten freshwater mussel populations through stream drying and water quality degradation. Augmentation of stream discharge was proposed as a short-term strategy to maintain adequate streamflows and water quality in reaches with important freshwater mussel populations during exceptionally low flow periods. We investigated the effects of water augmentation on seven freshwater mussel species in a small creek between 2011 and 2014. Using capture-mark-recapture methods, we monitored mussel populations in a control reach upstream of an augmentation outlet and two reaches immediately downstream of an augmentation outlet. Water quality measurements during our study indicated that augmentation improved water temperature and dissolved oxygen conditions during low flow periods. For all mussel species, apparent survival was positively related to minimum streamflows and declined precipitously as streamflows decreased. However, mean apparent survival between sampling occasions was high among all species but did not differ among treatment units, suggesting that flow augmentation rates in this study were insufficient for abating the effects of basin-wide reductions in streamflow. Temporary emigration differed among study reaches but did not support hypothesized relationships because it increased with stream stage and was highest in an augmented reach. This suggests that streamflows did not drop below thresholds, which invoked burrowing as a response to decreased streamflows. Streamflow augmentation may be a viable short-term mussel conservation strategy in small streams but will likely require higher augmentation volume capacity than evaluated during our study.

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“…Estimates of population vital rates and population size are important for effective species conservation (Matter et al 2013). Vital rates, such as survival and recruitment, are the main determinants of a population's growth rate and ultimately, its viability (Akçakaya et al 2004;Bonnot et al 2011;Connette and Semlitsch 2015;Newton et al 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Density, Apparent Survival, and Local Population Size of Louisiana Pigtoe (Pleurobema riddellii) in the Neches River, Texas

Ford

Plants-Paris

Ford

2022

Freshwater Mollusk Biology and Conservation

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Most North American unionids are imperiled to some degree, including the Louisiana Pigtoe, Pleurobema riddellii, which is currently under review for listing under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Understanding a species' population dynamics, including spatial and temporal variation in survival, density, recruitment, and population size, is vital for conservation, but this information is lacking for P. riddellii. We conducted a mark-recapture study to estimate apparent survival, density, recruitment, and population size of P. riddellii within a 25-m 2 area at three sites (75 m 2 total) in the Neches River, Texas from 2014 to 2019. We used the program MARK to evaluate POPAN models for estimating population parameters. We collected a total of 392 unique individuals of P. riddellii over the 5-yr period and the observed recapture rate averaged 55.6%. The most parsimonious POPAN model indicated that apparent survival varied temporally, the recapture rate varied temporally and spatially, and both the entry probability (recruitment) and population size varied spatially. Apparent survival averaged 83.3% 6 3.4% (SE)/yr, overall population size across the three sites was 429 individuals (overall density ¼ 5.7/ m 2 ), and recruitment averaged 6.3%/yr. High survival, relatively high density, the presence of recruitment, and the lack of temporal changes in population size suggest that these populations are stable. The presence of P. riddellii throughout a long section of the river, including localized patches of higher abundance, suggests that the total population size in the Neches River is relatively large and the river is a global stronghold for the species.

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Modeling the Survival and Population Growth of the Freshwater Mussel, Lampsilis radiata luteola

Cited by 7 publications

References 24 publications

Long‐term decline of native freshwater mussel assemblages in a federally protected river

Long‐term decline of native freshwater mussel assemblages in a federally protected river

An Evaluation of Streamflow Augmentation as a Short-Term Freshwater Mussel Conservation Strategy

Density, Apparent Survival, and Local Population Size of Louisiana Pigtoe (Pleurobema riddellii) in the Neches River, Texas

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