Population trends and ecological community interactions of freshwater mussels
type: CreativeWork
description: Freshwater mussels (order Unionida) are a globally widespread taxon which have been described as ecosystem engineers due to their capacity to modify freshwater habitats and facilitate other taxa, with effects on wider biodiversity. At the same time, freshwater mussels rank among the most threatened taxa globally. As a result, building a better understanding of mussel population dynamics and the interactions of mussels with other taxa is important to understanding potential impacts on freshwater ecosystems in the era of anthropogenic global environmental change. This thesis addresses three broad questions. First, I ask how mussel populations are changing over time and in response to anthropogenic ecosystem alteration, addressed in Chapters 2 and 3. Secondly, I investigate the ways freshwater mussels affect wider freshwater communities, discussed in Chapters 4-6. Finally, in Chapters 5 and 6 I consider the possible implications of changes to mussel populations for freshwater communities. I begin by exploring the changes that have occurred in freshwater mussel populations in southern England over the long and short term, using a variety of evidence types. In Chapter 2 I compare archaeological mussel shells from a Bronze Age site to modern populations. I show that present-day mussels grew faster and with more year-to-year variation than Bronze Age equivalents, and showed differences in δ18O and δ13C isotopic composition indicative of anthropogenic changes to habitats, in particular a shift to a deeper and more regulated waterway and a possible influence of elevated nutrient inputs. The now-Vulnerable Pseudanodonta complanata also appears to have been lost from the site. In Chapter 3 I further investigate historical changes to mussel populations, revisiting a study of mussel populations in the River Thames, one of the earliest studies to quantify mussel population dynamics. I show that mussel population density has fallen dramatically across nearly all species, with decl…
abstract: Freshwater mussels (order Unionida) are a globally widespread taxon which have been described as ecosystem engineers due to their capacity to modify freshwater habitats and facilitate other taxa, with effects on wider biodiversity. At the same time, freshwater mussels rank among the most threatened taxa globally. As a result, building a better understanding of mussel population dynamics and the interactions of mussels with other taxa is important to understanding potential impacts on freshwater ecosystems in the era of anthropogenic global environmental change. This thesis addresses three broad questions. First, I ask how mussel populations are changing over time and in response to anthropogenic ecosystem alteration, addressed in Chapters 2 and 3. Secondly, I investigate the ways freshwater mussels affect wider freshwater communities, discussed in Chapters 4-6. Finally, in Chapters 5 and 6 I consider the possible implications of changes to mussel populations for freshwater communities. I begin by exploring the changes that have occurred in freshwater mussel populations in southern England over the long and short term, using a variety of evidence types. In Chapter 2 I compare archaeological mussel shells from a Bronze Age site to modern populations. I show that present-day mussels grew faster and with more year-to-year variation than Bronze Age equivalents, and showed differences in δ18O and δ13C isotopic composition indicative of anthropogenic changes to habitats, in particular a shift to a deeper and more regulated waterway and a possible influence of elevated nutrient inputs. The now-Vulnerable Pseudanodonta complanata also appears to have been lost from the site. In Chapter 3 I further investigate historical changes to mussel populations, revisiting a study of mussel populations in the River Thames, one of the earliest studies to quantify mussel population dynamics. I show that mussel population density has fallen dramatically across nearly all species, with decl…
author: Ollard, Isobel
language: eng
keywords: freshwater mussels, conservation, aquatic ecology
license: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/ceba9309-fd3f-4d8c-b593-7e0d3a795852/download
license: https://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/
date published: 2024-05-29
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:23:56Z
provider: Cambridge University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Cambridge

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.17863/CAM.113531