THE ASIAN CLAM CORBICULA FLUMINEA AS A POLLUTION SENTINEL SPECIES

摘要

The New River Basin (NRB) of Tennessee has many rare endemic aquatic communities. One such community is that of freshwater mussels, which are experiencing a precipitous population decline due to the fouling and pollution of their freshwater systems. Silos containing live individuals of the nonnative Asian clams (Corbicula fluminea) were placed in several localities in streams of the NRB that receive mine drainage. This drainage is commonly associated with elevated conductivity typical of pollution that may impair native mussel health. This study of five impacted streams within the NRB, and a control stream of similar ecology, uses a stepwise multiple regression analysis to test this association. After accounting for factors such as temperature, results confirm that growth rates of these sentinel clams are significantly related to conductivity, and that these clams may be useful bioindicators of stream habitat quality for native mussels.