Mussel behaviour as a tool to measure the impact of hydrodynamic stressors

Freshwater Mussels as Sentinels for Safe Drinking Water Supply in Europe

“…However, caution must be taken since animals’ behaviors to changes in ambient conditions are highly variable, which could lead to a misinterpretation of observed responses. For instance, mussels’ responses can reflect not only pollutants but also other physicochemical parameters (e.g., discharge variations with sediment transport) . In addition, mussels are sometimes tolerant to persistent pollutants such as DDT, whereas they are very sensitive to others such as dichlorvos, DDVP .…”

“…For instance, mussels’ responses can reflect not only pollutants but also other physicochemical parameters (e.g., discharge variations with sediment transport). 39 In addition, mussels are sometimes tolerant to persistent pollutants such as DDT, whereas they are very sensitive to others such as dichlorvos, DDVP. 40 The application of more sophisticated mathematical models therefore needs to be further tested for an array of substances and physicochemical parameters, since it has been previously shown that this could significantly improve the sensitivity of observed stress responses.…”

Influence of Bed Roughness on Flow and Turbulence Structure Around a Partially‐Buried, Isolated Freshwater Mussel

“…Mussels are known to be very sensitive to mean shear stresses in the river reach (Modesto et al., 2023; Morales et al., 2006; Strayer, 1999). In particular, mussels have a much higher probability to survive high flow events if situated in regions of low bed shear stress (Newton et al., 2008).…”

Real-Time Biological Early Warning System based on Freshwater Mussels’ Valvometry Data

“…The extension of mussels' valvometry beyond its initial use in ecotoxicological monitoring of water quality can indeed become important and unique. Recent laboratory tests (Modesto et al, 2023;Termini et al, 2023) were performed on different freshwater mussels' (FMs) populations to investigate the variation of mussels' valve gaping (i.e., the act of partially opening their shells for respiration, filter-feeding, and moving) under different flow discharge and sediment transport scenarios. Valve gaping frequency and opening amplitude (%) was used to analyze mussels' behaviour, according to behavior classifications such as the one proposed by Hartmann et al (2016), subsequently extended based on those laboratory tests.…”

“…First, the installation of a monitoring system to assess the effects of discharge dynamics on FMs ′ behaviour necessitated securing the mussels using cages and/or anchoring systems to prevent them from being displaced by the flow. Secondly, to prevent the packing of FMs against the downstream wall of the cage during high discharge, we deemed it advisable to secure the FMs to steel rods that are anchored in situ rather than allowing them to move freely in the substrate as done in the laboratory tests (Modesto et al, 2023;Termini et al, 2023). The use of steel rods to anchor the FMs was required also considering that the river bottom of the installation site was characterized by bedrock, which is not an ideal substrate for FMs.…”