2022 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Virtual Conference

March 13 - 15, 2022

5/23/2019 | 9:00 AM - 9:15 AM | MUSSELS AS BIOGEOMORPHIC AGENTS IN STREAMS: PHYSICAL AND BIOGEOCHEMICAL ROLES | 251 DE

MUSSELS AS BIOGEOMORPHIC AGENTS IN STREAMS: PHYSICAL AND BIOGEOCHEMICAL ROLES

River form and function depends on the interactions between the living and nonliving world. Biophysical interactions provide information essential to improving predictions of system-scale functions, specifically sediment transport and biogeochemical cycling. We reviewed selected case studies highlighting biogeomorphic agents. We then focused on our studies of unionid freshwater mussels, a highly imperiled faunal group that once dominated the benthic biomass in many streams. Mussels may maintain or transform the physical stability of river bed sediment and alter biogeochemical cycles indirectly by their biogenic structure or directly through processes including biodeposition and bioturbation. We tested the effects of mussels on sediment properties (D50 median grain size and sorting), sediment scour, reach scale bedload transport, and denitrification and annamox activity by deploying 36 enclosures varying in mussel species composition and density in the Sipsey River, Alabama. We found that mussels increase surface layer D50 particle sizes and the degree of sorting, contribute to bed scour, and reduce bedload transport. Further, our results show that mussels positively influence nitrogen removal in streams. Our research suggests that dense, long-lived communities of freshwater mussels can play significant roles as biogeomorphic agents in rivers.

Invertebrate
Sediment
Biogeochemistry

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Presenters/Authors

Carla L. Atkinson (), University of Alabama, carlalatkinson@gmail.com;