SREL Reprint #2136

Genetic differentiation in and management recommendations for the freshwater mussel, Pyganodon grandis (Say,1829)

Hsiu-Ping Liu1, Jeffry B. Mitton2, and Scott J. Herrmann3

1Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Drawer E, Aiken, South Carolina 29802 USA
2Department of Environmental, Population, and Organismic Biology, University of Colorado, Campus Box 334, Boulder, Colorado 80309 USA
3Department of Life Sciences, University of Southern Colorado, Pueblo, Colorado 81001 USA

Abstract: The giant floater, Pyganodon grandis, was once abundant in lakes, rivers, and creeks in nearly all kinds of substrates from the east coast to the Rocky Mountains. Surveys of the giant floater revealed that the number of populations and population sizes have declined significantly at the western margin of the distribution. We surveyed five populations for variation of allozymes, male mtDNA and female mtDNA to provide the data needed to guide conservation and restoration efforts in Colorado. Both allozyme and female mtDNA revealed significant variation between drainages, but far more variation was revealed between drainages at the male mtDNA. The degree of differentiation among drainages is sufficiently great that we recommend that new populations be founded with individuals taken from natural populations within the same drainage.

Keywords: Unionidae, Pyganodon, population structure, management

SREL Reprint #2136

Liu, H.-P., J.B. Mitton, and S.J. Herrmann. 1996. Genetic differentiation in and management recommendations for the freshwater mussel, Pyganodon grandis (Say,1829). American Malacological Bulletin 13:117-124.

This information was provided by the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (srel.uga.edu).