James T. Peterson
Peter D. Hazelton
Robert B. Bringolf
Andrea K. Fritts
2015
<p><span>Freshwater mussel populations are highly susceptible to environmental alterations because of their diminished numbers and primarily sessile behaviors; nonlethal biomonitoring programs are needed to evaluate the health of populations prior to mass mortality events. Our objectives were to determine (</span><i>i</i><span>) which biochemical parameters in freshwater mussel hemolymph could be consistently quantified, (</span><i>ii</i><span>) how hemolymph parameters and tissue glycogen respond to a thermal stress gradient (25, 30, and 35 °C), and (</span><i>iii</i><span>) the effects of tissue and hemolymph extraction on long-term growth and survival of smaller- and larger-bodied mussel species. Glucose exhibited elevated expression in both species with increasing water temperature. Two transaminase enzymes had elevated expression in the 30 °C treatment. The effects of hemolymph extraction and tissue biopsies were evaluated with a large-bodied species, </span><i>Elliptio crassidens</i><span>, and a smaller species, </span><i>Villosa vibex</i><span>. Individuals were monitored for 820 to 945 days after one of four treatments: hemolymph extraction, tissue biopsy, tissue and hemolymph extraction, and control. Hemolymph extraction and tissue biopsy adversely affected survival of </span><i>V. vibex</i><span>, suggesting that these extraction methods may add some risk of reduced survival to smaller-bodied species. Survival of </span><i>E. crassidens</i><span> was not impaired by any of the treatments, supporting the use of these techniques in nonlethal biomonitoring programs for larger-bodied mussel species.</span></p>
application/pdf
10.1139/cjfas-2014-0564
en
NRC Research Press
Evaluation of methods for assessing physiological biomarkers of stress in freshwater mussels
article