Identifying suitable habitat of two federally endangered mussels in the Middle Fork and Salt Fork Vermilion rivers
Ruellan, Hugo
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/115345
Description
Title
Identifying suitable habitat of two federally endangered mussels in the Middle Fork and Salt Fork Vermilion rivers
Author(s)
Ruellan, Hugo
Issue Date
2022-03-09
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Stodola, Kirk
Committee Member(s)
Suski, Cory
Larson, Eric R
Department of Study
Natural Res & Env Sci
Discipline
Natural Res & Env Sciences
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
M.S.
Degree Level
Thesis
Keyword(s)
Freshwater mussels
habitat suitability models
surrogate species
host fishes
translocations
conservation
Language
eng
Abstract
Freshwater mussels are the most imperiled freshwater taxa and translocation of these endangered species is one option for conservation. However, suitable habitat for translocated mussels is often unknown. The amount of suitable habitat for the federally endangered Northern Riffleshell and Clubshell in the Middle Fork and Salt Fork Vermilion rivers in Illinois has not been determined. To identify suitable habitat, I sampled 79 sites in the two rivers looking for closely related surrogate species of Northern Riffleshell and Clubshell, along with their host fishes. I determined if suitable habitat was present by modeling presence/absence and abundance of surrogate mussel species to create a habitat suitability index and validated those model predictions. I also determined the current distributions of the host fishes of Northern Riffleshell and Clubshell. My results indicate there are more suitable habitats than previously believed throughout both rivers. These rivers should be able to support a larger population of these mussels and these results can be used to identify potential sites for future translocations.
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