Freshwater mussels, an animal that helps keep Louisiana’s freshwater ecosystems in check, are facing serious external threats.

These clam-like mollusks live in moving water systems like rivers, creeks, and streams. Dr. Garrett Hopper is a professor at LSU’s Fish and Mussel Ecology Lab, where he and his team research freshwater mussels. He explained the key role that mussels play.

““So freshwater mussels are an important bio indicator species,” Hopper said. “And so what that means is, if you’ve ever heard the phrase a canary in the coal mine, it’s sort of a warning sign, that things are getting bad. And so these animals are really sensitive to changes in their environment. And so if anything is disrupted in their environment and they’re beginning to decline, that’s cause for concern because it might be affecting the freshwater resource that we rely on.”

Now, Louisiana’s freshwater mussels face multiple dangers, mainly stemming from humans.

“So the earliest declines in freshwater mussels are linked to the construction of large dams,” Dr. Hopper said. “So those large dams turn free-flowing river habitat into slow or not moving types of aquatic habitats that these mussels are not adapted to. ”

“Pollution is a big one,” he elaborated. “Stream drying has been a big problem nowadays as we, pump more water out of the ground that contributes to stream drying and, and then obviously, global change and things like that.”

While freshwater mussels can use all the help they can get, it is important to leave the heavy lifting to the professionals. Due to their protected status, it is illegal to disturb many freshwater mussel species without the right permits. For those that want to help, Dr. Hopper says that it it important to remain environmentally concious.

“Everything on the landscape ends up in the river, right, and these mussels are kind of the livers of the rivers,” he said. “And so they’re processing all of that and having to deal with it.”

Although they operate below the surface, these freshwater mussels are a vital part of Louisiana’s ecosystems. Through the work of Dr. Hopper and his lab, the goal is for them to stay that way.