Shrnutí

Popis

Many factors are cited in the decline of freshwater mussel Family Unionidae populations in North America and for the listing of greater than 70 of native unionid species as endangered, threatened, or of special concern. There were four objectives for this investigation: 1 Assess the acute toxicity of chlorine, ammonia and copper three common pollutants to early life stages glochidia and juvenile of freshwater mussels and assess the chronic toxicity of chlorine, copper and, if possible, ammonia to one of the species used in the acute toxicity assessments. Test organisms included endangered and nonendangered mussel species from the central and eastern United States; 2 Document instream water quality conditions particularly for copper, ammonia and chlorine in habitats for these species; 3 Employ captive propagation to supply test organisms and elucidate various lifehistory and culture attributes fish hosts, culture methods, rearing methods, etc.; and 4 Evaluate the scientific validity of acute toxicity assessments using mussel glochidia and refine methodologies for conducting acute and chronic toxicity tests with juvenile mussels. Results of this investigation indicate that mussels are generally sensitive to ammonia and copper.