Alison R. Mynsberge

The eastern United States contains the greatest diversity and the most imperiled species of freshwater mussels in the world. Conservation efforts are underway, yet little information is available on current and historical distributions for most species. Current knowledge of freshwater mussel species distributions is limited to data available from museum collections, small-scale studies, and Natural Heritage surveys. The accuracy and precision of these data vary considerably. We obtained the best available information on the range of freshwater mussel species to model the distribution of...

The Appalachian Region contains the greatest diversity of freshwater mussels in the world. Freshwater mussels are also the most endangered taxa in the United States. Although small-scale studies have identified threats to mussel fauna, few studies have examined patterns in decline at the watershed scale. Mussel community types are not widely used in the literature, making it difficult to propose appropriate sampling designs for large-scale research. Describing mussel communities provides a framework for extrapolating research findings from local studies to a regional scale and gives...