Fragile Inheritance - Mussels in Golden Creek

Twenty-five years ago "Ligumia nasuta" was one of the most numerous of the 39 species of fresh water mussel in Ontario.... it's population estimated at 3 to 6 billion in Lake Erie alone. Only three remnant populations are known to exist now, since the Zebra Mussel invasion has suffocated and starved them to the brink of extinction.

By exploring for occurrence, and scanning shell piles left by predators, Dr. Fred Schueler and Aleta Karstad have patiently surveyed the population of "Ligumia nasuta" that they discovered here in 2005, and are now beginning quantitative measurements of abundance with tossed quadrats.

In 2005, as the Committee on Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada report was being written to list the species as Endangered, this discovery doubled the number of known surviving populations in Canada. As yet there is no funding from the Species at Risk system for Fred and Aleta's study of this population.

Please consider supporting this important biological survey.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Triune
• Fred Schueler
• Aleta Karstad
• Fragile Inheritance
• environment
• ecology
• natural history
• mussel
• Ligumia nasuta
• Environmentalism
• Green
• Environment (biophysical)
• Unionid
• Golden Creek

[triunearts]

Clarification: The creek is identified in the video as Lyn Creek - it's actually Golden Creek, as Fred explained, "... Lyn Creek comes in just downstream (where I gesture towards in the video), and the whole stream takes the name Lyn Creek, though Golden Creek is larger at the confluence."

[triunearts]

also watch "Fragile Inheritance - Mudpuppy Nights in Oxford Mills"