Dimensions of Biodiversity in the Mussel Holobiont

Project meeting

3/10/2020

Project meeting group at dinner.

The whole Mussel group got together March 2-3 in Tuscaloosa, AL to discuss progress to date and preliminary data. It was exciting to see everything starting to come together and discuss new directions for this coming summer's field work!

DIMENSIONS Team Traveled to Athens

1/28/2020

Some of the Dimensions Team traveled to Athens, Georgia this past weekend to visit the Capps Lab at the University of Georgia (UGA) for the annual ATKAPPS Exchange. Atkinson lab members met with faculty from the School of Ecology and the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources at UGA to discuss their research. We also took a behind the scenes tour of the Georgia Natural History Museum. We completed the weekend with a party at the Capps house on Friday night and a late morning walk at the Georgia Botanical Gardens! Fun time seeing and meeting colleagues! Roll Dawgs!

Mussel processing....first go!

9/10/2019

We are working out our assembly line sample processing. Mark and Marlene came over to Tuscaloosa to help with the processing. In order to make use of every bit of individual-level data, we must process each individual by taking a genetic sample, dissecting its intestinal tract, collect the rest of the tissue for stoichiometry, and keep its shell individually recorded for morphology. All of these pieces will be put together to better understand diversity across scales. These samples and data will pair with individual-level excretion rates from the field. It's quite the task, but we have a good team! This has us ready for our big processing plans in October.

ACF Mussel workshop and PAINT Rock, BEAR Creek, and Bogue chitto sampling complete!

8/9/2019

We have had a very productive summer! We have completed sampling on Bogue Chitto Creek, the Paint Rock River, and Bear Creek. At this point, we have dug ~500 quadrats and conducted excretion measurements on over 300 mussels! We took a bit of a break this past week and the Alabama crew attended the 2019 Apalachicola, Chattahoochee, and Flint Basin mussel workshop at the Jones Ecological Research Center in southwest Georgia. It was great continuing seeing new mussel species after all the work in the Mobile and Tennessee basins. We'll be back at on the Buttahatchee River next week.

Initial Site sampling complete!

7/1/2019

The UA and UM crew together on Bear Creek, AL.

Mussel displaying its lure to attract a host fish to carry its glochidia on the Duck River, TN.

Sampling on Bogue Chitto Creek, AL.

Cahaba River, AL

Over the last week and a half, the University of Alabama group, which has included Carla Atkinson (PI), Jeff Lozier (PI), Jamie Bucholz (PhD student), Ansley Hamid (undergraduate researcher), and Austin Beets (undergraduate researcher), have visited and sampled all of the sites for the project. We have visited the Sipsey River (AL), the Cahaba River (AL), Bogue Chitto Creek (AL), Bear Creek (AL), Paint Rock River (AL), the Buttahatchee River (MS), and the Duck River (TN). We have been collecting water samples, collecting seston samples (mussel food), and have been characterizing the substrate of each site. It's been hot, but luckily we can take a swim to cool down!

First Planning Meeting and Press!

10/25/2018

This past Tuesday Carla and Jeff drove over to Oxford, MS for our first group meeting to plan out the project. We had a productive day long workshop to discuss field work, personnel hiring, develop a comprehensive sample processing protocol, pose for photographs, and eat southern diner food. We are well on our way to getting things rolling.

Ryan, Jeff, Colin, and Carla (left to right) meet at Ole Miss to discuss mussel biodiversity

In addition, NSF issues a press release about the Dimensions grants, and highlighted our mussel project. UA and Ole Miss also issued nice stories to coincide with the press release. Links to the stories below.

NSF press release
U Alabama story
Ole Miss Story

And Carla was on the Birmingham WBHM NPR station! Listen here, or story here!

Site Scouting and loggers out on Bear Creek

9/12/2018

Bear Creek

Female (top) and male Epioblasma brevidens

Mussels found at one of our sites

Paul and Nate working hard

We did some site scouting on Bear Creek today with Paul Johnson (ALDCNR), Nathan Whelan (USFWS), and Jeff Garner (ALDCNR). We got to three sites and saw a large diversity of mussels with 14 species being encountered in a short period of time. Epioblasma brevidens were swabbed for genetic samples as part of Nate's research and temperature, depth, and conductivity loggers were launched at a site for this project. Looking forward to working more in Bear Creek!

Paint Rock River Surveys

9/4/2018

The Atkinson lab assisted the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources with their quantitative surveys of Paint Rock River mussels. The Paint Rock is a real beauty in north Alabama with 51 species of mussels! We knocked out two sites and had some time for some site scouting for this project. We're off to a good start!

Scoping field sites

7/23/2018

Cahaba River, AL

Elk River, TN

Bogue Chitto Creek, AL

Buttahatchee River, MS

We have been busy the last few weeks identifying our specific field sites for this upcoming project. Atkinson has spent time with the Alabama Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources, Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency, and Wildlife Mississippi to identify access points and field sites. Lozier joined for a trip along the Buttahatchee to meet with Wildlife Mississippi. In any event, we are getting prepared for several busy field seasons.

Project News