Bryan Simmons, a terrestrial/aquatic ecologist with the environmental service section of the Kansas Department of Wildlife & Parks, will chat about the state of freshwater mussels in Kansas’ rivers and streams. Each freshwater mussel can filter up to 8 gallons of water a day. However, they are also being affected by years of harvesting, pollution and changes to their habit.

Toto_the_great

Thank you Bryan. I learned a lot.

Moderator

Good morning. This is Dennis Anderson, managing editor of the Lawrence Journal-World. Our guest today is Bryan Simmons, a terrestrial/aquatic ecologist with the environmental service section of the Kansas Department of Wildlife & Parks. Welcome Bryan.

Moderator

We have a number of questions from readers, so let’s get started.

Grump

Did people ever eat freshwater mussels?

Bryan Simmons

Yes, There have been extensive archelological surveys that indicate Native Americans used them for food, and tools. However some calorie studies have indicated that there are more calories in one whitetail deer than several hundred mussels. Even so, mussels would have been rather easy to come up with for food. That being said, I wouldn’t recommend eating them as they are known to accumulate toxins such as lead or cadmium if present in the river. They also live for several decades so toxins would be relayed to the consumer.

Toto_the_great

What work is being done to project mussels in our area (e.g., Wakarusa, Deleware, etc)?

Bryan Simmons

There are state regulations present to protect mussels. This is given that projects are done the appropriate way. My job with the Dept of Wildlife and Parks is for just that. We review nearly 2000 projects every year and try to assimulate how much habitat will be disturbed and mitigated. We are constantly trying to increase public awareness toward all T/E species including mussels
As the article indicated, most of the regulations inacted today such as the Clean Water Act occured in the 1970’s. If we see that major impacts to the river are to occur, we first question the proposal, and then provide course of action, including mussel relocation.

wheremyshoes

Increased demand for agricultural products from the United States, coupled with urban sprawl and an increase in rural urbanization has reduced natural habitats nationwide. In what way do you see these trends changing the aquatic landscape in Kansas?

Bryan Simmons

I see major changes coming. However, there is also increased awarness toward those issues now than ever before. We are always striving toward getting ahead of the game to preserve habitats while they are still continuous. The Midwest overall is about 20 years behind of what is occuring on the Coasts. We are pushing developers toward designs used there are Laws are alot more stringent. We could prevent alot of needless cost and redtape if we chose that path now. These mussels are very valuable environmentally and economically as they provide a natural filter base to reduce water pollutants as long as they are not hazardous to the animals themselves. By increasing mussel biomass, we have the potential to save millions on extra treatment.

Grump

How are mussels raised at a hatchery?

Bryan Simmons

This is a very difficult process to describe. First off, the hatchery has yet to go online. We currently have no budget available to operate. We are initially starting out in a small storage shed and trying to find the funds to initiate this project. Once the funding is established, in a nutshell, native mussels are unique that they require a host fish to be a surrogate for their babies. An analogy would be like a butterfly goes through a catapiller stage to a pupae to and adult. These mussel exchange gametes (egg and sperm) and a life stage called a glochidia is formed. This glochidia must be placed on a fish before it can become an adult. Sometimes the host fish is as specific as only one fish species working for one mussel species. This makes things very complicated. First we have to find what fish work for each mussel, since these mussels can be rare, its hard to find parental stock to work with. Once the right fish and mussels are located they are place together and juveniles are produced. Again, the strategy for the hatchery and staff is still in question. If we were to get more support, funding and staff we could possibly really make a difference toward recovering some of these species.

Grump

Is it possible to keep one alive in an aquarium?

Bryan Simmons

Yes, there are select species that can live in aquaria, however, they are not much to look at. They have no bright colors or mobile like fish. Most species though require significant food supply. Studies indicate that one mussel can filter 8 gallons of water per day, feeding a majority of that time. Being said there needs to be ample food in the water or they will slowly starve. We are coming to postulate that mussels could be feeding largly on bacteria, so having the right food might be hard to acquire. Personally I think I would stick to pretty fishes. (G)

Toto_the_great

Why is Kansas so far behind the other states in protecting it aquatic resources?

Bryan Simmons

The main reason, is no one is calling for change. It is the peoples choice on how things are put into regulation. There have been more bills proposed in the state legislature recently to downsize our T/E laws than increase requirements. Without regulations, we cannot impose change. Most of the other states have gone down the road long enough that the species have become federally listed and that puts the ball in a new court. The USFWS doesn’t have to answer to the state government. We are very fortunate here that we have no mussels currently listed on the federal list. This gives us major opportunity to make changes now while these species are fairly stable. This in turn could save us millions in red tape or the next few decades. We are a really conservative state, so changes may not come for a while, unless of course people push for action.

Toto_the_great

What is the distribution of mussel like in Kansas, and is any survey work being done in the NE portion of the state?

Bryan Simmons

There were about 46 different species in KS historically, most of the diversity being in the Eastern third of the state. Once you get west of the Flint Hills, the diversity goes way down. Most of this is attributed to the sand bed streams. Our highest diversity is in the SE corner. We recently completed a few surveys on some of major systems, however, to make better decisions we should be doing these about every 5 years. More often than not, they take the back burner because they are not a game species, thus their priority is lower. There was one good study on the Wakarusa done by a Kansas Native who now works in Illinois, that has been published. We also have a stream monitoring program that does cursory work with mussel presence / absence.
KDHE has staff that also spend a little time surveying for shell across the state.

Celeste

I know that Zebra mussels are becoming a problem in other parts of the country-have they invaded Kansas lakes and rivers yet? If they have, what steps are being taken to get rid of them?

Bryan Simmons

Yes they are here. They were first reported in El Dorado Lake, a few years ago, Cheney and Perry Lake this year. There are no steps to get rid of them. The best step is to keep from getting them in the first place. One they become established they travel downstream. They cannot travel upstream, so the only way they get upstream is from us transporting them. They will end up costing us millions in lost recreation, intake maintenance and environmental impacts from starving our native shells. They encrust everything, including native shells.

Grump

How stable is the population in the Kaw? What types are in the Kaw?

Bryan Simmons

No one has performed a survey in the Kaw. We have specimens collected there from historical years, but no recent data from surveys. Again this comes from the lack of priority. The Kaw doesn’t have the habitat or diversity as found in other rivers like the Verdigris or Neosho or Spring thus it ranks lower on the list to survey. There is one species there or was there, the hickorynut, which we now have considered to be extirpated from the state. Whether that was human induced or natural we may never know. The types you find there are fairly common in most of our sandy streams. I am making a slight guess that there are about 8 species there.

Toto_the_great

What are the most significnat human induced disturbances to streams and mussels?

Bryan Simmons

The largest disturbance would be reservoir construction, as it impounds riverine habitat, changes flow regimes downstream, as well as prevents the host fish from migrating upstream. We do have a few instances where you find mussels below dams, but nowhere upstream. The second would be pollution. This is inclusive to non-point sources such as ag fields, erosion and point source such as sewage inflows. Lastly, would be the overharvest of the resource historically. When you come these three factors, you come up with the answer we are forced to deal with now. That is endangered status. The problem here is that we continue to pursue these projects and are not making major changes even with regulations. I fear we will follow suit as the east and west coast.

Grump

How long can they live out of the water when the river drops? Do they sense that water is going down, and move to deeper water?

Bryan Simmons

This really depends on the ambient temperature. In the heat of the summer in direct sunlight, mussels wouldn’t last long. However, right now they could last a few weeks. This is a unique question as this is how natural predators obtain them. Otters have been witnessed stockpiling shells out of the river and wait for the mussels to expire and they have a free buffet. There is also some thought they can sense this water fluctuation. There are two studies in press discussing this very issue. I have personnaly witnessed shells subsurface migrating toward the river during low flows. On regulated rivers, where we control the flow have the most potential to kill large qtys. of shells.

Moderator

We are out of time. I want to thank Bryan Simmons for his time today, and our readers for their questions. Have a good afternoon.

Bryan Simmons

I want to thank everyone for the questions and apologise for my slow typing as maybe could have answered a few more. If there are additional inquiries you can contact me at my office 620-672-0788. We do have some free publications that list mussels of KS. We are doing a poster series as well, and last year the Kansas School Naturalist did a piece on Mussels that is very informative. But the overall best site that gives you great pictures and information and other links on this subject would be the one posted by my mentor Dr. Chris Barnhart at http://unionid.missouristate.edu/.
The key point of the article and chat was to inform you that you all are the voice of change toward water quality / habitat improvements. If we start now, our resources would be setting a standard for other states to follow vs. us following what other states also failed at
Thanks again
Sincerely Bryan Simmons, Ecologist Kansas Dept of Wildlife and Parks