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https://theconversation.com/they-live-for-a-century-and-clean-our-rivers-but-freshwater-mussels-are-dying-in-droves-164567>
"Freshwater mussels are dying suddenly and in the thousands, with each mass
death event bringing these endangered molluscs closer to extinction.
Tragically, these events rarely get noticed.
In March last year, for example, seawater was introduced into the lower Vasse
River in south-western Australia to control harmful algal blooms. This killed
the entire population of Carter’s freshwater mussel (
Westralunio carteri) in
this section of the river.
For me, this was particularly distressing for two reasons. First, the species
was recently listed as vulnerable to extinction thanks to the work of my then
graduate student Michael Klunzinger.
Second, among the 3,000-4,000 mussels killed were 160 my colleagues had
previously collected from the river, kept alive in cages for nine months, then
re-introduced so they would survive the construction of a new bridge.
Freshwater mussels are one of the most endangered groups of animals on the
planet, with 47% either extinct or threatened with extinction. Yet we hear
almost nothing about the extinction crisis they face.
I want to bring your attention to why freshwater mussels are important, why
many will become extinct within our lifetimes, and why this will have dramatic
consequences for freshwater environments throughout the world."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
