Classification and Ordination of Freshwater Mussel Communities in the Appalachians
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...
