Alexa Hershberger Highlights Importance of Freshwater Mussels with the ‘Daily Hampshire Gazette’

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Scientists working to better understand and protect the Connecticut River embarked on a three-day research excursion to study one of the river’s most overlooked yet important species: the freshwater mussel. This excursion brought together experts and students as they surveyed the riverbed above the Holyoke Dam and collected data in an attempt to better understand this essential organism, which plays a critical role in improving water quality.

Alexa Hershberger, a doctoral candidate in the College of Natural Sciences's Organismic and Evolutionary Biology graduate program, was among the excursion’s student researchers. She explained to the Daily Hampshire Gazette that the mussels clean the water as it passes through them, not unlike a familiar household item:

“Some of their ecosystem services, I would describe them like the coffee filters of the river,” she explained. “There is some research where [mussels] change the hydrology of the system, too, and they also provide habitats for other aquatic insects.”

—  Alexa Hershberger to the Daily Hampshire Gazette

Over the coming years, this research will be important for helping to determine conservation decisions, guide future environmental restrictions, coordinate habitat protection efforts, and plan development alongside the Connecticut River.

Learn more about this work with freshwater mussels in the Daily Hampshire Gazette.