US Freshwater Mussels In Trouble From Copper, Ammonia - Over 10% Of Known Species Already Extinct

[hatrack]

Freshwater mussels may start disappearing from dinner plates as species increasingly become extinct or endangered by human activities, scientists say.

North America has historically had a very diverse community of freshwater mussels, but populations have been on the decline for the past few decades. Mussels now are one of the most endangered groups of animals on the continent, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Humans are primarily responsible for the disappearance of mussels through water pollution and changes to their physical habitat wrought by the construction of dams, dredging and the introduction of exotic species.

EDIT

Recent studies, detailed in a special section of latest issue of the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, have narrowed down the pollution and habitat factors, finding that mussels are particularly sensitive to copper, ammonia and several pesticides, which can wash into streams from surrounding land.

Ammonia is a major issue in North Carolina, wrote researcher Teresa Newton of the U.S. Geological Survey in La Crosse, Wisconsin. And current water quality standards for copper may not protect mussels in Oklahoma and other states, according to a team including Christopher Ingersoll of the USGS in Columbia, Missouri.

EDIT

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20823440/

[pscot]

1. Zebra mussles

probably thrive on the stuff.

[hatrack]

2. That would be about our luck . . .

:shrug:

[NNadir]

3. I will access the paper and look at it. It happens that much copper pollution

is associated with cars, although I believe car copper is dwarfed by plumbing copper, distributed widely in the environment from sewage effluent, treated or otherwise.

To some extent copper in sewage is mitigated by sulfur released in the decomposition of proteins.

At the Los Angeles sewage outfall pipe, there are deposits of copper sulfide that - were they on land - would be constitute excellent ore bodies.