Welcome to the Website of Anna Chase, Student, Researcher, and human being.
More beneath the surface
Looking into a stream in the Selway Wilderness of Idaho, you will sometimes spot a salmon coming back to spawn. The story of salmon is one that is often told in dramatic fashion with videos of fish jumping up waterfalls and swimming through a gauntlet of predators. But they aren't the only animals that live here, and they are far from the oldest.
Freshwater mussels live much longer than any salmon. The Western Ridged mussel lives up to 20 years while Western Pearlshell can live to be over 100 years old, making it of particular interest. The growth rings it forms each year can serve to tell its age, much like a tree, and more importantly, their growth rate may be able to tell us about the environment, such as the effects of salmon runs on nutrient availability in streams or how global climate change may affect mussel distributions in the future.
The Western Pearlshell can live wherever the salmon travel, including streams in the scenic Selway Wilderness area, hundreds of miles from the ocean. Their fate is tied to the fate of fish, as their glochidia (larvae) are obligate parasites on young of the year salmon.
Freshwater mussels live much longer than any salmon. The Western Ridged mussel lives up to 20 years while Western Pearlshell can live to be over 100 years old, making it of particular interest. The growth rings it forms each year can serve to tell its age, much like a tree, and more importantly, their growth rate may be able to tell us about the environment, such as the effects of salmon runs on nutrient availability in streams or how global climate change may affect mussel distributions in the future.
The Western Pearlshell can live wherever the salmon travel, including streams in the scenic Selway Wilderness area, hundreds of miles from the ocean. Their fate is tied to the fate of fish, as their glochidia (larvae) are obligate parasites on young of the year salmon.
Additional Freshwater Mollusk Resources
Pacific Northwest Native Freshwater Mussel Workgroup
Freshwater gastropods of North America
Xerces Society
Pacific Northwest Native Freshwater Mussel Workgroup
Freshwater gastropods of North America
Xerces Society
Contact Information
Anna Chase
[email protected]
[email protected]