Grant: Strategic Projects Supplemental Competition

Protecting our freshwater resources requires us to identify critical elements essential for the long term health and sustainability of aquatic ecosystems. These include not only identifying which specific organisms in a community are important, but also understanding how all organisms within a community interactively contribute to the functioning of ecosystems. Additionally, it is also important to understand the mechanisms of energy and material flow between organisms and their surroundings to appreciate the underlying processes that are responsible for maintaining healthy ecosystems. Here we are proposing an integrative approach that combines physiology, ecology, and toxicology disciplines to address how stress related to various aspects of land-use (nutrient loading and metal contamination) influence the integrity and ecological services provided by freshwater mussel beds. Mussels are useful biological indicators of ecosystem health because they integrate metals and other contaminants from the water column into their shell and tissue. Our study will be focused in the southern region of Ontario where there are currently eight species of mussels listed as critically endangered on the species-at-risk-act. We will compare commonly used indicators of ecosystem health (nutrient loading, diversity and species abundance indices) with more novel techniques and measurements (stable isotopes, fatty acid analysis, and ecological stoichiometry) to evaluate key ecological processes in native freshwater mussel communities. Results and information obtained from this research will facilitate the development of guidelines for better water management and land use plans as well as critical information to protect our endangered biodiversity.