How is climate change affecting the river mussel?
The scientific article "Conservation Challenges Imposed by Evolutionary History and Habitat Suitability Shifts of Endangered Freshwater Mussels Under a Global Climate Change Scenario"was recently published in the scientific journal diversity. This article has Joaquim Reis as its principal investigator, with the collaboration of MARE researchers Silvia Perea, Mafalda Gama, Sofia L. Mendes, Cristina Lima, Filipe Banha, Maria Gil, Maria Garcia Alvarez, Pedro Anastácio and Carla Sousa Santos, and is the result of the MUSSELFLOW project .
This article is concerned with assessing the vulnerability of the river mussel to climate change by studying its population genetics and evolutionary history, the suitability of its current and future habitat, and the habitat of its hosts. Freshwater mussels are extremely endangered invertebrates worldwide, and the species studied, Unio tumidiformis, has a restricted distribution in the south of the Iberian Peninsula and is endemic to this region. These animals, which live in temporary Mediterranean waterways, still need a fish as a host for successful larval transformation.
In the study, the mussel's population structure and genetic diversity were assessed, and it showed that most populations show extreme genetic differentiation, even in close neighboring populations, while populations in the Upper Guadiana were more diverse and less differentiated. This suggests that U. tumidiformis originated in the Upper Guadiana and followed the same routes as its hosts. In addition, the results obtained in this research predict a 99% reduction in climatically suitable areas for the species by 2040 in the Iberian Peninsula, and a 42% reduction for its host fish by the end of the century.
Therefore, this study suggests that tough conservation measures are needed, prioritizing the preservation of populations, translocation to the northern part of its historical range and the engineering of watercourses for greater resilience to drought.
As part of the conservation effort, MARE researcher Joaquim Reis is now taking part in the PRTR-ESMOLINCO project (MOLLUSK SPECIES AND COASTAL INVERTEBRATES), coordinated by the Euskoiker Foundation (in the Basque Country), the Spanish Society of Malacology and TRAGSATEC. This project is being developed within the framework of the Spanish Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, as part of the wider project "Fauna terrestre y aves marinas (especies autóctonas y exóticas invasoras): mejora de conocimiento del estado de conservación", coordinated directly by the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Change (MITECO). Joaquim Reis is the coordinator for the species Unio tumidiformis, which in Spain occurs in the basins of the Guadiana, Guadalquivir and some smaller independent basins in Andalusia.
Photographs provided by Joaquim Reis. Dead mussel shells in the dry season in the Vascão stream (left). Dry bed of the S. Pedro stream (right)
To access the article click HERE