Since the early 1990s, researchers have witnessed a shocking decrease of freshwater mussels in Ontario. Now, Trent Environmental and Life Science’s MSc student Charise Currier and summer NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Awards (URSA) student Anna Cho, are developing tools that will help to conserve and protect aquatic ecosystems.

“When you first think about freshwater mussels, you likely think about invasive zebra mussels. However, what many people don’t know is that we have 40 species of native freshwater mussel in Ontario and many of these are endangered or declining in our rivers,” explained Ms. Currier.  “These animals are critical to the function of aquatic ecosystems, as they improve water quality and release nutrients for other animals to feed on.”

Subsequently, one of the primary challenges they face with the mussel species is simply finding them.  Ms. Cho outlined traditional methods of searching, which she described as being “labour-intensive and costly.” She continued, stating “some of the unionids (mussels) burrow into sediments and are hard to see in murky water.”

With the help of Dr. Joanna Freeland, associate professor of Biology at Trent University, Dr. Chris Wilson, research scientist with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, and Dr. Todd Morris, research scientist at Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Ms. Currier and Ms. Cho have been developing a technique that allows them to identify specific species based on the presence of their DNA in the water.  This is a much faster and less costly option that will allow conservationists to screen many more sites for protection.

This year at the Ontario Ecology, Ethology and Evolution Colloquium (OE3C), Ms. Currier and Ms. Cho presented a poster titled, “Targeted detection of multiple freshwater mussel species at risk (Unionidae) using environmental DNA (eDNA).” The poster outlined the preliminary results of their research at Trent.  Ms. Currier stated “during the poster session, our fellow attendees were very enthusiastic to hear about the work we are doing; it was a great opportunity to discuss the research and its significance.”

In addition to gaining the valuable experience, Ms. Currier and Ms. Cho also received the first place prize for their research poster.  

“This is exciting research because it will contribute greatly to our knowledge of where threatened and endangered freshwater mussel populations are located,” Professor Freeland enthused. “This is an important first step in deciding which habitats should be protected in order to ensure the persistence of these threatened species.”

Posted on Monday, May 25, 2015.