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Reconstructing historical range and population size of an endangered mollusc: long-term decline of Popenaias popeii in the Rio Grande, Texas

  • FRESHWATER BIVALVES
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Abstract

Although freshwater molluscs in the order Unionoida are considered one of the most endangered groups of animals in the world, sufficient data on their status are lacking for most species. As a result, a species may become rare, endangered, and even extinct before the first population assessment is conducted. This is especially true for endemic species, particularly those limited to remote regions with difficult access. We studied the current distribution and population densities of Popenaias popeii endemic to the Rio Grande drainage in Texas, and developed a method to evaluate changes in the population’s size and distributional range over the last 100 years. Sampling over 250 sites in four rivers that constitute the entire historical range of P. popeii in Texas, we found that this species has likely been extirpated from two rivers. The total length of the rivers populated by this mussel has declined by 75%, and the total P. popeii population size has declined by 72%. The remaining population of this species in the Rio Grande is fragmented, with only one 190-km stretch still supporting high densities. The developed approach could be used for other rare freshwater molluscs to reconstruct their historical range and population size.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) as a Joint Traditional Sect. 6 Project to LEB, AYK, B. Lang (New Mexico Department of Game and Fish) and M. May (TPWD). LEB was also supported by the Research Foundation of SUNY. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. We appreciate the aid of Steve and Don Barclays in airboat surveys of the Rio Grande. We thank students from Laredo Community College (TX), Dr. T. Vaughan and his students (Texas International A&M University in Laredo, TX), B. Lang (NMDGF), D. J. Berg and K. Inoue (Miami University, OH), Y. Zhang, T. Nobles, and H. Nichols (Texas State University, San Marcos, TX), and K. Stubbs and P. Douglas (Expedition Outfitters, TX) for their help in the field. We thank E. Walsh for the opportunity to work in the University of Texas at El Paso (TX) Biodiversity Collection, Jillian Becquet from Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History for confirming the records of P. popeii in Brownsville area, and G. Eckhardt (Edwards Aquifer Website) for his help in finding historical data on Las Moras Creek. Discussions with Vadim Karatayev (University of California, Davis) were very helpful in data analysis and presentation. We thank anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments that improved this manuscript.

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Guest editors: Manuel P. M. Lopes-Lima, Ronaldo G. Sousa, Lyuba E. Burlakova, Alexander Y. Karatayev & Knut Mehler /Ecology and Conservation of Freshwater Bivalves

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Karatayev, A.Y., Burlakova, L.E., Miller, T.D. et al. Reconstructing historical range and population size of an endangered mollusc: long-term decline of Popenaias popeii in the Rio Grande, Texas. Hydrobiologia 810, 333–349 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-015-2551-3

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