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Rosenberger, A.E. and G.A. Lindner. 2022. Use of a riverscape-scale model of fundamental physical habitat requirements for freshwater mussels to quantify mussel declines in a mining-contaminated stream: the Big River, Old Lead Belt, Southeast Missouri. U.S. Department of Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Cooperator Science Series FWS/CSS-147-2022, Washington, D. C. https://doi.org/10.3996/css78904468
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Abstract
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November 2022
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The research described in this report was conducted as part of the Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration process in the Big River. Our purpose was to refine understanding of the habitat features and landscape factors that are crucial for the establishment of mussel concentrations in the Big River by using the adjacent and relatively healthy Bourbeuse and Meramec rivers as reference streams. The study will help to establish expected baseline conditions related to mussel habitat in the Big River, which will assist.injury determination in the Southeast Missouri Lead Mining District Natural Resource Damage Assessment case.
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Key, K.N., A.E. Rosenberger, G.A. Lindner, K. Bouska, and S.E. McMurray. 2021. Riverscape-Scale Modeling of Fundamentally Suitable Habitat for Mussel Assemblages in an Ozark River System, Missouri. Freshwater Mollusk Biology and Conservation 24: 43-58.
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Abstract
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October 2021
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Identification of the physical habitat characteristics associated with riverine freshwater mussel assemblages is challenging but crucial for understanding causes of mussel declines. The occurrence of mussels in multi-species mussel beds suggests that common physical factors influence or limit the occurrence of multiple species. Fine-scale geomorphic and hydraulic factors (e.g., scour, bed stability[A1] [A2] ) are predictive of mussel bed occurrence, but they are computationally challenging to represent at intermediate, or riverscape scales. We used maximum entropy (Maxent) modeling to evaluate associations between riverscape-scale hydrogeomorphic variables and mussel bed presence along 530 river km of the Meramec River basin, USA, to identify river reaches that are fundamentally suitable and unsuitable for mussels. Locations of mussel beds were obtained from an existing, multi-year dataset, and river variables were derived from high-resolution, open-source datasets of aerial imagery and topography. Mussel beds occurred almost exclusively in reaches identified by our model as suitable, which were characterized by laterally stable channels, absence of adjacent bluffs, proximity to gravel bars, higher stream power, and larger areas of contiguous water (a proxy for drought vulnerability). We validated our model findings based on model sensitivity using a set of mussel bed locations not used in model development. These findings can inform how resource managers allocate survey, monitoring, and conservation efforts.
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Hartman, J.N., A.E. Rosenberger, K. Key, and G. Lindner. 2023. Assessing potential habitat for freshwater mussels by transferring a habitat suitability model within the Ozark Ecoregion, Missouri. Freshwater Mollusk Biology and Conservation 26:32-44.
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Abstract
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March 2023
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The freshwater mussel fauna of the United States, while extraordinarily rich, has the highest imperilment rate of any group of organisms. However, environmental factors that allow for their establishment and persistence in large, multispecies mussel beds remain unknown. Riverscape-scale (spatially and longitudinally continuous) instream correlates of large, hydrogeomorphic features have been used successfully in predicting suitable habitat for the Meramec Basin in the Ozark Ecoregion in Missouri. We tested the transferability of this habitat suitability model in 2 other rivers in the Ozark ecoregion that have similar hydrogeomorphic variables that may be influencing mussel distributions, in the absence of other limiting factors such as human disturbance. We tested 3 different model transferability techniques that represent different levels of dependence on the original Meramec habitat suitability model. The best fit models for each river were produced by the transferability technique with the least dependence on the original model, and instead, relied on adapting and customizing each model to each individual river. This comparative study demonstrates the influence of the range of hydrogeomorphic characteristics within the river system on the range of characteristics identified as suitable habitat. This study emphasizes the need for more wide-spread, available, and ecologically meaningful riverscape-scale data in habitat modeling with the understanding that levels of importance and range of hydrogeomorphic characteristics will vary across drainages and instream processes.
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Bouska, K., A.E. Rosenberger, S.E. McMurray, G. Lindner, and K. Key. 2018. State-level freshwater mussel programs: current status and a research framework to aid in mussel management and conservation. Fisheries DOI:10.1002/fsh.10106. (IP-076251)
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May 2018
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