Research in Tennessee and Missouri

Mussels

Fishes

My current research program in Tennessee and Missouri is guiding local management agencies to use standardized and validated approaches for mussel sampling and assessment paired with development of fundamental niche models as a framework for threat and assemblage risk assessment.  This work forms the foundation of a long-term vision to develop a statewide monitoring plan and conservation assessment for its native Unionid mussels.  Previous monitoring of mussels and conservation actions in the state have been opportunistic due to lack of spatially-explicit information on threats to mussel communities and opportunities for management and conservation on the landscape.  Our focus has been on whole-assemblage rather than single-species conservation, a recognition of the few biologists typically employed to monitor and manage mussels at the state level.  ​

We are also investigating fishes’ physiological preferences, and tolerances related to water temperature, oxygen content, and nutrients.  We are using metabolic power, rather than mortality, as a measure of both preference and tolerance.  Standardized and accepted methods for examining sub-lethal effects of naturally occurring stressors may be used to develop both threshold- and regime-based water quality standards for Tennessee and serve as a model for other research programs.  ​

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