Dr. Patricia Gillis, Research Scientist, Environment and Climate Change Canada Are Clams Actually Happy? Using Freshwater Mussel Ecotoxicology to Determine What Threatens an Imperiled Group Native freshwater mussels (Unionidae) are an ecologically important group, although their complex lifecycle leaves them vulnerable to a range of hazards. Over 70% of North American mussel species are either endangered, threatened, or in decline and poor water quality is considered to be one of the key contributors to their global decline. Canada’s Recovery Strategies for freshwater mussel Species at Risk recognize that poor water quality can affect conservation efforts and pose a risk to recovery. However, the identification and remediation of specific threats presents a challenge when extrapolating from single contaminant lab-based bioassays to the health of native mussel populations, especially in areas with complex mixtures of anthropogenic inputs. With the goal of broadening our understanding of which contaminants pose a risk to mussels, laboratory studies with a range of chemicals have been undertaken in parallel with wild mussel health and population assessments in anthropogenically-impacted habitats. This seminar will illustrate the joys and challenges of working with this complex canary by providing examples of studies that combine lab and field investigations. The first example is centered on the heightened sensitivity of early life stage mussels to salt and the threat that road salt-laden winter road runoff poses to mussels. The second example demonstrates how urban influences, including municipal wastewater effluent negatively impact freshwater mussels across multiple levels of biological organization. A final example will touch on the ‘Clam Project’, an Indigenous Community led investigation of freshwater mussels in Alberta’s Oil Sands Region.
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