JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN WATER RESOURCES ASSOCIATION
AMERICAN WATER RESOURCES ASSOCIATION
FRESHWATER MUSSEL POPULATION STATUS AND HABITAT QUALITY IN THE CLINCH
RIVER, VIRGINIA AND TENNESSEE, USA: A FEATURED COLLECTION1
Carl E. Zipper, Braven Beaty, Gregory C. Johnson, Jess W. Jones, Jennifer Lynn Krstolic,
Brett J.K. Ostby, William J. Wolfe, and Patricia Donovan2
ABSTRACT: The Clinch River of southwestern Virginia and northeastern Tennessee is arguably the most important river for freshwater mussel conservation in the United States. This featured collection presents investigations of mussel population status and habitat quality in the Clinch River. Analyses of historic water- and
sediment-quality data suggest that water column ammonia and water column and sediment metals, including
Cu and Zn, may have contributed historically to declining densities and extirpations of mussels in the river’s
Virginia sections. These studies also reveal increasing temporal trends for dissolved solids concentrations
throughout much of the river’s extent. Current mussel abundance patterns do not correspond spatially with
physical habitat quality, but they do correspond with specific conductance, dissolved major ions, and water column metals, suggesting these and/or associated constituents as factors contributing to mussel declines. Mussels
are sensitive to metals. Native mussels and hatchery-raised mussels held in cages in situ accumulated metals in
their body tissues in river sections where mussels are declining. Organic compound and bed-sediment contaminant analyses did not reveal spatial correspondences with mussel status metrics, although potentially toxic
levels were found. Collectively, these studies identify major ions and metals as water- and sediment-quality
concerns for mussel conservation in the Clinch River.
(KEY TERMS: aquatic ecology; freshwater mussels; major ions; metals; water quality; water resources management.)
Zipper, Carl E., Braven Beaty, Gregory C. Johnson, Jess W. Jones, Jennifer Lynn Krstolic, Brett J.K. Ostby,
William J. Wolfe, and Patricia Donovan, 2014. Freshwater Mussel Population Status and Habitat Quality in the
Clinch River, Virginia and Tennessee, USA: A Featured Collection. Journal of the American Water Resources
Association (JAWRA) 1-13. DOI: 10.1111/jawr.12220
important freshwater systems of North America and
is one of the most important rivers for mussel diversity and conservation in the world. Here, we introduce a featured collection of articles describing
investigations of freshwater mussel population status
BACKGROUND
The Clinch River of southwestern Virginia and
eastern Tennessee is among the most ecologically
1
Paper No. JAWRA-13-0110-P of the Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA). Received May 7, 2013; accepted April
3, 2014. © 2014 American Water Resources Association. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.
Discussions are open until six months from print publication.
2
Professor (Zipper) and Geospatial Laboratory Specialist (Donovan), Department of Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences, Research
Specialist (Ostby), Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, 416 Smyth Hall, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061; Aquatic Biologist
(Beaty), Clinch Valley Program, The Nature Conservancy, Abingdon, Virginia 24210; Hydrologist (Johnson), Tennessee Water Science Center,
U.S. Geological Survey, Knoxville, Tennessee 37921; Restoration Biologist (Jones), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Department of Fish and
Wildlife Conservation, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061; Geographer (Krstolic), Virginia Water Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey,
Richmond, Virginia 23228; and Supervisory Hydrologist (Wolfe), Tennessee Water Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Nashville, Tennessee
37211 (E-Mail/Zipper: [email protected]).
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cal Services Strategic Plan (2010-2014) (USFWS,
2012).
The first mussel surveys in the Clinch River were
conducted in the late 1800s and early 1900s by
Adams, Walker, and Ortmann, and were compiled by
Ortmann (1918). These surveys identified a diverse
mussel fauna that was already experiencing declines
due to river system stresses. Ortmann (1918)
expressed concern that sedimentation and toxins
from logging, tanneries, and other land uses threatened the mussel fauna. Qualitative assessments in
the 1970s continued to show a rich mussel community in the Clinch River (Stansbery, 1973; Bates and
Dennis, 1978). Quantitative riverine mussel surveys
have been conducted regularly at approximately fiveyear intervals since 1979. Subsequent analyses have
revealed continuing population declines throughout
most of the Clinch River in Virginia but generally
stable populations in Tennessee (Jones et al., 2014).
Mussel biodiversity conservation challenges in the
Clinch River are complicated by the complex and
multistage life history of mussels that generally
requires a parasitic intermediate stage on fish before
an offspring can survive on its own (McMahon, 1991).
Freshwater mussels spawn via males releasing sperm
into the water and females collecting sperm during
siphoning, requiring adequate population densities
for gamete exchange. Freshwater mussels begin life
as fertilized eggs that develop into an embryonic form
called glochidia within the female’s gills. Once
mature, these glochidia must be released from the
female mussel, attach to a host fish, and encyst into
the fish tissue. There is a substantial degree of taxonomic specificity between mussel and host fish species. The developing mussels disperse as encysted
glochidia attached to their hosts. As the host fish
moves up or down river, fully metamorphosed juvenile mussels excyst from the host fish and are deposited to the river bottom in the habitat of its host fish.
This is when the juvenile mussels begin self-sustaining life.
This obligate parasitic life history and limited ability to select and disperse to suitable habitats complicates mussel conservation. Once a species becomes
extirpated or depressed within a reach, recovery is
hampered by this complex life history and lack of
adult mobility (Neves et al., 1997; Strayer et al.,
2004). Reduced mussel population densities may
lower fertilization rates due to decreased probability
of successful gamete encounters during spawning.
The mussel fauna also depends on a suitable composition and density of fish assemblages to ensure
recruitment success (Neves et al., 1997; Strayer,
2004). Similarly, for the fish fauna to remain viable
and diverse, suitable numbers and types of food items
(mostly aquatic insects) must be present. The aquatic
and habitat quality in the Clinch River in response to
a pattern of decline in some reaches of the river but
not others. This introductory article provides general
background for the Clinch River system, introduces
the featured collection, and summarizes findings of
the collected articles.
Biodiversity Value and Challenges
The Clinch River and its tributaries in the largely
free-flowing system upstream of Norris Lake, Tennessee, support 133 species of fish (Jenkins and Burkhead, 1994) and at least 46 extant species of mussels,
including 20 species that are federally endangered
(Neves et al., 1997; Jones et al., 2014). Fifty-six mussel species, 18.5% of the United States (U.S.) and
Canada freshwater total, have been reported from
this section of the Clinch River (Stansbery, 1973;
Jones et al., 2014). Of these, 10 species that are
believed to be extinct or extirpated (Jones et al.,
2014), 29 are globally imperiled (Master et al., 1998),
and 31 are described as “at-risk” by state Natural
Heritage programs (Tennessee Natural Heritage
Program, 2009; VDGIF, 2013).
Fish species richness in the Clinch River system is
also important for biodiversity conservation. A total
of 116 fish species are native to the Clinch River system, representing 52% of the fishes in the entire Tennessee River watershed, including 17 endemic species
(Jenkins and Burkhead, 1994; Warren et al., 1997).
The 87 native fishes in the Virginia portion of the
Clinch River basin comprise 44% of Virginia’s total
native fish species (Jenkins and Burkhead, 1994;
Warren et al., 1997). Local species richness can be
high, as many as 95 species at a single shoal, based
on repeated sampling over several years (David A.
Etnier, University of Tennessee, 2003, personal communication to B. Beaty), presenting strategic conservation opportunities. While the fishes are not as
imperiled as mussels, five species are federally
endangered or threatened and 14 are “at-risk” (Natureserve, 2012). For several of the rarer fishes, the
Clinch River populations are important for rangewide conservation of the species.
The Clinch River’s mussel and fish fauna rank
among the most important in North America based
on imperilment (Master et al., 1998). The extent of
imperilment, especially for its mussel species, also
makes the Clinch River an important conservation
focal area. Using a rarity- and richness-weighted
metric for analysis and comparison of all U.S. areas,
Chaplin et al. (2000) identified the Clinch River as
among the top U.S. conservation priorities. The U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) designated this
watershed as a priority area in the Virginia EcologiJAWRA
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FRESHWATER MUSSEL POPULATION STATUS
AND
HABITAT QUALITY
IN THE
CLINCH RIVER, VIRGINIA
insects in the riffle habitats typically occupied by
mussels and lithophilic spawning fish are also sensitive to environmental disturbances and contaminants
(Roy et al., 2003). Robust mussel communities provide ecological benefits for epibenthic flora and fauna
supporting fish, leading to a feedback loop among
mussels and fish (Vaughn et al., 2008).
We define a high-quality mussel assemblage or
fauna as one composed of most mussel species
expected to occur in the reach based on historical surveys and exhibiting evidence of recruitment for many
to all species present; while a low-quality mussel
assemblage exhibits substantially reduced species
richness and abundance compared to historical data
and/or little evidence of recruitment in extant species;
we use these terms following the Johnson et al.
(2014) and Ostby et al. (2014) contributions to this
collection. Furthermore, we use the term “impacted”
to describe river reaches occupied by low-quality
assemblages, given historic accounts of dense and
diverse mussel assemblages occurring throughout the
Clinch River’s Virginia extent (Ortmann, 1918; Stansbery, 1973; Ahlstedt, 1986), and the term “integrity”
to describe an assemblage or community composition
that appears as relatively unimpacted by human
activities.
The Clinch River flows southwest from its source
in Virginia’s Tazewell County through Russell, Wise,
and Scott counties, Virginia, and Hancock and Claiborne counties, Tennessee, to Norris Lake, an
impoundment north of Knoxville, Tennessee. The
basin upstream of Norris Lake is the Clinch River’s
primary biodiversity refuge. The papers in this collection focus on reaches upstream of Norris Lake in
Tennessee and Virginia (Figure 1). The hydrologic
units (Seaber et al., 2007) containing these river segments and their contributing watershed areas (study
area, Figure 1) occupy 3,721 km2. Major land uses
are forest (66%) and agriculture (>20%), primarily
hay crops and livestock pasture (Table 1). Agriculture, primarily cattle grazing, is the principal managed land use throughout the watershed’s Ridge and
Valley areas. Developed land uses, including developed open space, cover about 7.3% of the basin and
are most concentrated in lower-elevation stream valleys. The area’s human population, as determined
through analysis of tract-level data (U.S. Census,
2010), is approximately 105,000, with an average
density of approximately 28 people per km2.
The Clinch River watershed contains lands of both
the Ridge and Valley and Appalachian Plateaus physiographic provinces (Figure 1) (Fenneman, 1938). The
OF THE
AMERICAN WATER RESOURCES ASSOCIATION
TENNESSEE, USA: A FEATURED COLLECTION
Ridge and Valley is defined by a folded and faulted
geologic sequence composed of carbonates, sandstones, siltstones, and shales of Cambrian to Devonian age (roughly 541-360 million years) with local
inclusions of younger, more flat-lying Mississippianand Pennsylvanian-aged (roughly 360-300 million
years) limestones, sandstones, and other sedimentary
strata (Figures 1 and 2). The province is characterized by parallel ridges, commonly capped with sandstones, and fertile valleys with soils derived from
carbonates which commonly include karst features.
The Appalachian Plateaus have formed from sandstones, shales, and other sedimentary strata of Mississippian and Pennsylvanian age that are generally
flat-lying but locally dissected by streams. These
strata contain bituminous coal seams. Coal mining,
including surface mines, underground mines, coal
processing and transportation, is a major industry in
this portion of the watershed. Coal-bed methane production, including well-pad development and road
and pipeline construction, has been expanding in the
region as well.
Because of terrain, much of this region’s residential and urban development has occurred in the valleys close to tributaries and the main river. Several
population centers occur within the watershed of the
Clinch River and its tributaries, including Richlands,
Cedar Bluff, Cleveland, and St. Paul, along the
Clinch River’s banks; Wise, Norton, and Coeburn
along the Clinch’s largest tributary, the Guest River;
Castlewood and Lebanon, to the mainstem’s southeast; Tazewell, near the headwaters; and Sneedville,
in Tennessee. All of these and some smaller towns
utilize sewage treatment plants that discharge treated effluent into the river or its tributaries. A number
of industrial facilities also occur along the river’s
length, including a coal-fired electric power plant
located at Carbo, Virginia, at the Clinch River’s confluence with Dumps Creek since the 1950s, and a
second coal-fired power plant recently constructed in
a tributary drainage near St. Paul, Virginia.
The Clinch River watershed’s southwestern (downstream) segment has a lower population density and
fewer developed areas than the northeastern
(upstream) segment; and it has less agriculture and
more forest than the northeastern segment’s Ridge
and Valley areas (Table 1). This area also contains
the most dense and diverse mussel assemblages.
Watershed Features
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Ecosystem Stressors
Concerns for water contamination effects on the
Clinch River’s biodiversity, first voiced by Ortmann
(1918), remain current today. Although the Clinch
River’s fauna remain diverse, it has been in decline
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LEGEND
Watershed boundary
Clinch River
KY
Major tributaries
Population centers > 3000
Appalachian plateaus
VA
< 3000
Ridge and valley
Geologic cross section (see Figure 2)
St. Paul
Coeburn
Separates northeast, southwest
(see Table 1)
Wise
Guest
River
Lick
Creek
Cedar
Bluff
Richlands
Dumps
Creek
Tazewell
Norton
Little
River Claypool
Dungannon
Stock Creek
Lebanon
Cleveland
Castlewood
Pendleton
Island
Sneedville
WV
Indian
Creek
Hill
Copper Creek
Swan
Island
NC
Clinchport
TN
Horton
Ford
Limits of Jones et. al. (2014) mussel assemblage designations
H Diverse, no significant perturbations
S Stable, higher densities than other VA sections
D In decline, little evidence of recruitment
L Low density, but with recruitment
Limits (approx.) of upstream reach with low-quality
fauna from past impacts (Price et. al., 2014)
High-quality and
Low-quality mussel assemblages,
as sampled and classified by
Johnson et al. (2014),
Ostby et al. (2014).
D
S
H
L
VA
S
D
TN
FIGURE 1. The Upper Clinch River Watershed, as Defined by 12-Digit Hydrologic Units Containing Mainstem Monitoring Locations
Addressed by the Featured Collection and Upstream Tributary Areas. Above: Physiographic, hydrographic, and cultural features within the
study area. Physiography designations as ecoregions defined by Omernik (1987) and U.S. EPA (2012a), Level III. Below: Mussel assemblage
status designations, as defined and documented by Featured Collection articles. The impounded waters of Norris Lake begin approximately
20 km southeast of the furthest downstream sampling point in the lower figure.
to wastewater treatment plant effluents have also
been noted (Goudreau et al., 1993). Other sources of
stress within the system may include point-source
discharges from wastewater treatment and industrial
facilities, tributary streambank and channel erosion,
domestic livestock activity within stream channels,
atmospheric deposition of pollutants such as nitrates,
sulfates, and mercury, and discharges from active
and abandoned coal facilities. Collectively, these and
perhaps other stressors have contributed to the
declines of the mussel fauna in Virginia reaches of
the Clinch River and have adversely affected other
faunal groups including fishes.
Surface-water and bed-sediment quality are critical
environmental variables that likely affect the health
and status of mussel communities. Juvenile mussels
throughout much of its Virginia extent (Burkhead
and Jenkins, 1991; Neves, 1991; Neves et al., 1997;
Jones et al., 2014).
Since Ortmann’s time, numerous human activities
in the watershed have delivered sediment and contaminants to the river, potentially altering stream
temperatures and creating other stresses to the aquatic fauna. A risk assessment found that agricultural
and urban land uses as well as proximity to mining
activities and transportation corridors were inversely
related to a fish index of biotic integrity and mussel
species diversity (Diamond and Serveiss, 2001;
USEPA, 2002). This study also found that habitat
quality measures and acute, episodic stressors such
as chemical spills were also strongly related to fishand mussel population metrics. Historic impacts due
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FRESHWATER MUSSEL POPULATION STATUS
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HABITAT QUALITY
IN THE
CLINCH RIVER, VIRGINIA
AND
TENNESSEE, USA: A FEATURED COLLECTION
TABLE 1. Area, Population Density, and Land Use within the Clinch River Watershed Areas Represented by Figure 1
as Determined from Analysis of National Land Cover Database 2006 Data (MRLC, 2006) and U.S. Census (2010).
Appalachian
Plateaus
Area (km2)
Population density (people/km2)
Land use (percent of total)
Water, wetlands
Forested
Shrub/scrub
Agricultural (pasture, hay, and
crops) and grasslands/herbaceous1
Developed: open
Developed: low, medium, and
high density
Barren
Ridge and
Valley, Northeast
1,116
33
1,857
32
Ridge and
Valley, Southwest
748
12
Total
3,721
28
0.2
78.8
0.1
10.9
0.2
54.4
0.6
37.9
0.9
73.0
0.6
19.1
0.3
65.5
0.4
26.0
4.7
4.2
4.0
2.7
4.9
1.3
4.4
2.9
1.1
0.2
0.2
0.5
1
Review of aerial photography reveals that extensive areas mapped as grassland/herbaceous within the Ridge and Valley are in agricultural
use for pasture and hay.
600m
Pennsylvanian
quartzarenite
Mississippian
300m
Mid-Cambrian
Mississippian
Mid-Cambrian
Ordovician
Devonian
Lower Cambrian
Lower Cambrian Upper Cambrian
sandstone
siltstone
shale
limestone/dolomite
FIGURE 2. Geologic Cross Section for the Surface Trace Represented in Figure 1, Oriented Northwest (left) to Southeast (right). Predominant characters of geologic units are represented but rock types within most geologic units are mixed. Geologic periods of origin for geologic
units are represented along the horizontal axis. Pennsylvanian and Mississippian strata form Appalachian Plateaus physiography and also
include coal seams. Bold lines separating geologic units represent faults. Vertical axis is elevation above sea level and is scaled at 29 the
horizontal. Figure has been redrawn from Evans and Troensegaard (1991).
example, is a leading cause of water-quality impairment of streams in the U.S. (USEPA, 2012b); however, it remained unclear whether physical habitat
disturbance is correlated with the observed mussel
declines. Natural physical habitat features, such as
bed stability and channel geomorphology, have been
linked to mussel density, diversity, and survival
(Vannote and Minshall, 1982; Church, 1997; Brim
Box and Mossa, 1999; Krstolic, 2001; Diamond et al.,
2002; Strayer, 2004; Strayer et al., 2004; Gangloff
and Feminella, 2007; Baldigo et al., 2008; Osterling
et al., 2010). Excessive sedimentation has been shown
to harm mussel populations through degrading habitat, clogging gills, and impairing filter-feeding efficiency (Ellis, 1936; Aldridge et al., 1987; Neves et al.,
1997). Sedimentation and toxicity are related issues
because many contaminants are preferentially bound
to organic or mineral sediments (Adams et al., 1992),
which may preferentially expose juvenile mussels.
live burrowed in the sediment and are directly influenced by the quality of sediments and interstitial
waters (Yeager et al., 1994; Cope et al., 2008). As
filter-feeding organisms, mature mussels process
large volumes of water and suspended and deposited
particles to extract sustenance. Freshwater mussels
are known to be sensitive to a variety of water and
sediment contaminants, especially at early-life stages,
including ammonia (Augspurger et al., 2003;
Mummert et al., 2003; Wang et al., 2007), sodium
chloride (Gillis, 2011), and other mineral salts (Kunz
et al., 2013), chlorine (Goudreau et al., 1993), metals
including Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn (Havlik and Marking, 1987; Jacobson et al., 1993, 1997; Naimo, 1995;
Keller et al., 2007; Cope et al., 2008; Wang et al.,
2010), and K (Keller et al., 2007).
At the outset of this research, much remained
unknown about contaminant and habitat influences
on mussels in the Clinch River. Sedimentation, for
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Jones et al. (2014) conducted and interpreted mussel population surveys at 18 locations from 2004 to
2009, and described current status of mussel populations within various river reaches. They reported dramatic differences in mussel-assemblage status
indicators among their study sites. The mussel
assemblages in the Clinch River’s Tennessee section,
upstream of Norris Lake, are thriving. Mussel populations in Virginia vary in status, but none exhibited
the density and richness observed in the Tennessee
reaches. These authors noted particular concern with
the river reach containing Pendleton Island, in Virginia, where dramatic declines in density have been
recorded. They designated the Clinch River section
extending from the confluence with Lick Creek, just
upstream of the town of St. Paul, past Pendleton
Island to the Clinch River’s confluence with Stock
Creek (see Figure 1) as harboring mussel fauna that
are “in decline with little evidence of recruitment.”
Price et al. (2014) analyzed historic water- and sediment-quality data collected by government agencies
from the Clinch River over a period extending from
1964 through 2010. They found that water column
ammonia, water column metals (including Cu), and
sediment metals (including Pb and Zn) have historically occurred at levels exceeding thresholds
established by environmental quality guidelines (MacDonald et al., 2000; VDEQ, 2010; USEPA, 2013) and
may have negatively impacted mussels. Most of these
exceedances were recorded prior to 1979 when formal
mussel surveys were initiated and they occurred
throughout the river’s extent, although most frequently in the river’s upper reaches (upstream of
Dumps Creek). The analysis also revealed that water
column occurrences of ammonia and metals at potentially toxic concentrations have declined in frequency
and have not been recorded during the past decade.
Price et al. (2014) also noted that dissolved solids
exhibited rising trends over the study period throughout most of the Clinch River’s extent. The Price et al.
(2014) analysis revealed no significant differences in
dissolved solids concentrations between the impacted
reach that includes Pendleton Island, where concentrations over the 2000-2010 period averaged 208 mg/l,
and the Clinch River’s Tennessee reach where mussels
are thriving. The sensitivity of those comparisons was
hampered by variations of sampling frequencies and
locations and of measurement methods over the study
period.
Ostby et al. (2014) sought to determine if the
observed variations in mussel assemblages throughout the Clinch River reflect differences in physical
habitat quality. This study was conducted in response
to work in the southern Appalachians and elsewhere
that suggests mussel assemblages are influenced by
Elevated specific conductance (SC), an indicator of
water’s dissolved solids content, and also a concern in
the Clinch River, has been shown to be strongly correlated with benthic macroinvertebrate community
structure change in headwater and other low order
Appalachian streams (Pond et al., 2008; USEPA,
2011). The toxicity of dissolved solids to freshwater
organisms is dependent upon ionic composition
(Mount et al., 1997). Dissolved solids in coal mining
influenced Appalachian streams, such as those that
occur in the Clinch River watershed, are often dominated by the anions SO42 and HCO3 and the
cations Ca2+ and Mg2+ (Pond et al., 2008) as is the
Clinch River itself (Johnson et al., 2014).
Although toxicity of some pesticide formulations to
freshwater mussels have been studied (Bringolf et al.,
2007a; Keller et al., 2007), effects of many other
organic constituents, such as polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons (PAHs) and other nonpesticide persistent organics have not been well studied. Trace metals, pesticides, and other organic contaminants occur
in the water column and in sediments (Hampson
et al., 2000; USEPA, 2004; Wang et al., 2013).
Given the changes experienced by mussel fauna in
the Clinch River, we see investigation of water, sediment, and physical habitat quality as essential to an
improved understanding of how human activities are
influencing mussels in the river, and development of
effective conservation measures. This collection of
studies addresses these issues in the Clinch River
with the intent of providing a foundation for conservation of the imperiled mussel assemblages and
further research.
OVERVIEW OF FEATURED COLLECTION
This featured collection contains studies of water,
sediment, and physical habitat quality and mussel
population status conducted in the free-flowing section of the Clinch River upstream of Norris Lake.
These studies focus on spatial associations of potential stressors with indicators of mussel health and
diversity, with the goal of resolving uncertainties concerning which stressors are most influential. The
studies were conducted using field-derived data; as
such, they do not present direct causal relationships
between mussel declines and specific environmental
stressors. However, they have been conducted with
the intent that their findings may contribute to identification of environmental factors responsible for the
mussel declines that have been observed in the
Virginia sections of the Clinch River.
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FRESHWATER MUSSEL POPULATION STATUS
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HABITAT QUALITY
IN THE
CLINCH RIVER, VIRGINIA
stream channel geomorphology. These authors measured channel geomorphology, assessed lotic habitats,
and characterized mussel assemblages at 10 locations, seeking relationships among key habitat variables. They also compared habitat quality metrics
and associated physical habitat variables measured
in the Clinch River to those in other streams
throughout the upper Tennessee River basin that are
known to harbor mussels. While the habitat characteristics varied among rivers and among sites, the
sites in the Clinch River supporting both high- and
low-quality mussel assemblages were more similar to
each other than to occupied habitats in other rivers.
Their findings provided little evidence to suggest that
geomorphology and physical habitat are associated
with the variations in mussel assemblage conditions
in the Clinch River. None of the habitat metrics evaluated by Ostby et al. (2014) were consistently correlated with patterns of mussel decline. However, they
and other authors (Church, 1997; Krstolic, 2001) have
found evidence that geomorphology may have played
a more substantial role in structuring assemblages
historically. These findings suggest Clinch River sites
and others in the upper Tennessee River basin have
the potential to support greater richness than they do
currently.
Johnson et al. (2014) evaluated water and sediment chemistry at many of the same sites studied by
Ostby et al. (2014), with the goal of identifying environmental factors that differed between sites in the
Clinch River’s impacted section and those supporting
stable or recovering populations. Environmental variables studied included SC, major ions, selected metals and other trace elements, and organic
constituents (PAHs, and aliphatic compounds) in
water and sediments. Turbidity, SC, and water column concentrations of several constituents, including
Cl, Ca, F, K, Fe, Na, Mg, Se, and SO42 , were significantly greater at a site in the impacted reach near
Pendleton Island, compared to a site in a reach supporting high-quality mussel assemblages. Evaluating
water quality at 15 sites along the mainstem Clinch
River, they observed that the spatial distributions of
elevated dissolved ion (Ca, Na, Cl, and Fl) and metal
(total Fe and Mn) concentrations correlated with spatial patterns of mussel decline. They also found bedsediment concentrations of several elements varied
in regular patterns over the river’s extent. Several
trace elements and metals in bed sediments tended
to increase moving from upstream to downstream
(e.g., Al, As, Cr, Ni), while several other elements
exhibited the opposite pattern (e.g., C, Ca, Mg, Na,
P), but neither pattern correlated with the spatial
distribution of declining or stable mussel populations. Considering findings by Wang et al. (2013),
Johnson et al. (2014) determined that all sediment
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samples had combined metals PAH contents at levels
potentially toxic to freshwater mussels. Caged hatchery-raised mussels exposed to ambient waters and
native mussels harvested in impacted reaches accumulated higher tissue concentrations for a number of
metals (e.g., Cd, Co, Cu, Fe, Pb, Ni, Th, V) than similarly treated mussels placed in reaches harboring
high-quality assemblages, suggesting that water column exposure is more important to metals uptake in
mussels than bed sediment. The Johnson et al.
(2014) findings indicate that dissolved major ion concentrations vary among different segments of the
mainstem river, and suggest that inflows to the
mainstem from tributaries that drain mined areas
increase dissolved constituent concentrations while
water influxes from tributaries that drain land without mines cause dilution and lower concentrations.
Johnson et al. (2014) observed that the spatial distributions of elevated dissolved ion and metal concentrations in the mainstem correspond with impacted
reaches. Johnson et al. (2014) found that water column metals (measured as total forms) and major
ions consistently correlated with patterns of mussel
decline, while organic compounds, water column
nutrients, and bed-sediment metals and organic compounds did not.
COLLECTIVE INTERPRETATION
It is now clear, based on quantitative data, that
the mussel fauna in the Clinch River has declined
dramatically in a 68-km reach from St. Paul downstream to Clinchport, Virginia (Jones et al., 2014),
and that other faunal impacts have been noted elsewhere in the Clinch River’s Virginia sections. At
Pendleton Island where 46 species have been
recorded, density has declined from 24 m 2 in 1979
to 0.66 m 2 in 2009 (Ahlstedt et al., 2005; Jones
et al., 2014). Such a precipitous decline at the best
documented site in the river — a greater than 96%
decline in density over a 30-year period — represents
a catastrophic loss in mussel abundance; essentially
it is a collapse of the fauna at what was formerly
among the most species-rich sites in the country
(Jones et al., 2014). Because of the high number of
mussel and fish species listed as federally endangered
that occur or occurred at this site and in this reach of
the river, federal and state natural resource agencies
are concerned about long-term viability of the fauna
and are seeking to understand the causes of the
decline. The main cause appears to be pollution emanating from various local sources and over different
time periods. Natural ecological factors, such as peri7
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found 12 additional observations in the data record
where ammonia concentrations were >50% of the
CCC, but most of these occurred in the 1970s and the
most recent was recorded in 1983. Hence, the Price
et al. (2014) findings support the claim that frequencies of elevated ammonia concentrations in the water
column have been declining with time. As source data
for Johnson et al. (2014), Krstolic et al. (2013) documented ammonia concentrations below detection limits of 0.02 mg/l for all but 1 of 32 base-flow samples
from 2009 to 2011 and <0.06 mg/l for 20 storm samples regardless of sampling location. These ammonia
values were well below the USEPA CCC intended to
protect freshwater mussels (USEPA, 2013). Although
mean total N and median total P from state-agency
data evaluated by Price et al. (2014) were above the
USEPA’s ecoregional reference levels (USEPA, 2000),
they found no indication that the recent levels cause
environmental stress to mussels. Throughout most of
the Clinch River’s extent over the study period, total
N and total P levels were found to be either stable or
declining (Price et al., 2014).
odic floods and droughts, reduced availability of food
and fish hosts, are not considered the suspected drivers of mussel population declines. The temporal pattern of the decline occurring within the section of the
river that includes Pendleton Island is downward and
unidirectional. Ostby et al. (2014) found no differences in more than 50 physical habitat variables
among high-quality and impacted river reaches, concluding that measured physical habitat differences do
not explain the observed patterns in mussel assemblages. Natural ecological drivers would cause populations to fluctuate randomly and similarly
throughout the entire length of the river in Tennessee and Virginia. Mussel populations in Tennessee,
downstream of the impacted reaches in Virginia, have
maintained much higher density levels and do not
exhibit a downward pattern of decline, while those
further upstream in Virginia are exhibiting some
recovery potential (Ahlstedt et al., 2005; Jones et al.,
2014). Thus, ecological factors do not offer plausible
scientific explanations for understanding such sharp
mussel population declines in the Clinch River section that includes Pendleton Island. In contrast,
contaminants affecting water and habitat quality
offer a plausible and logical explanation for the
observed declines. High levels of ammonia, metals,
dissolved solids, and organic compounds have been
documented in the water, sediment, and tissues of
native mussels and other bivalves in the river over
the last 30 years, while severe pollution discharges
and contaminant spills have also been documented
(as reviewed by Price et al., 2014). Hence, this featured collection of articles documents past and current mussel population status and scientific evidence
concerning the role of historical and contemporary
pollution in the river as a likely driver of the faunal
losses occurring in the Clinch River’s Virginia sections.
Major Ions
One water-quality measure that has deteriorated
in the Clinch River is dissolved solids, an indicator of
major ion concentrations. Using data records extending from the late 1960s through 2010, Price et al.
(2014) found that dissolved solids increased over time
throughout the river’s extent, and, hence, exhibited a
negative association with the pattern of mussel
decline that has been observed at Pendleton Island. A
complementary pattern was observed by Johnson
et al. (2014) through continuous measurements of SC.
That study found that SC, frequently used as a surrogate for dissolved solids, was lower at Cleveland and
Horton Ford (high-quality mussel assemblage) than
at Dungannon (low-quality mussel assemblage).
Together, these two studies provide evidence that
dissolved solids concentrations in the Clinch River
are associated, negatively, with the ecological condition of mussel assemblages. Interpretation of these
results to infer potential effects of major ions in the
Clinch River, however, is not straightforward. Freshwater mussel sensitivity to major ions has been most
studied in laboratory settings for NaCl solutions in
reconstituted waters of varying hardness. Such studies have found acute toxicities for NaCl to vary
widely among freshwater mussel species (Valenti,
2004; Bringolf et al., 2007b; Gillis, 2011), among life
stages (Bringolf et al., 2007b; Blakeslee et al., 2013),
and with water hardness (Gillis, 2011). Gillis (2011)
also found acute toxicity to native mussel glochidia at
lower NaCl concentrations in laboratory reconstituted
Ammonia, Nutrients
Water quality of free-flowing streams within many
human-altered landscapes of the U.S. has passed
through a pattern of substantial degradation occurring before passage of federal environmental laws.
Price et al. (2014) analyzed historic datasets to determine water-quality change. They found that most
measured parameters improved from the 1960s to
2010, particularly in the most recent decade. Total P
concentrations and frequencies of elevated concentrations for metals and ammonia generally declined over
the analysis period. Ammonia levels exceeded
USEPA’s criterion chronic concentration (CCC)
(USEPA, 2013) three times in the data record, most
recently in 1990. The Price et al. (2014) analysis also
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Metals
Studies investigating effects of other contaminants
on Clinch River mussels began in the 1980s, as
scientists postulated that chronic toxic contaminant
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exposures were partially responsible for local or
reach-scale declines. Metals, both dissolved and sediment-borne, have received the greatest attention
(Belanger et al., 1986, 1990; Jacobson et al., 1993,
1997; Farris et al., 1994; Cherry et al., 2001; Wang
et al., 2013). Metals, particularly Cu and Zn originating from an electric power plant’s wastewater discharge, were suspected of preventing recovery of the
mussel fauna downstream of the coal-fired electric
power plant located on the Clinch River’s bank at the
Dumps Creek confluence following a pair of chemical
spills in 1967 and 1970 (Crossman et al., 1973).
Cherry et al. (1991) summarized these events, highlighting that Cu was detrimental to mussel growth
and physiological activity at water concentrations in
the 15-20 lg/l range, with acutely toxic effects noted
at 19.4 lg/l. Additional research reported Cu-acute
toxicity levels (median effective concentrations,
EC50s) as low as 17-36 lg/l for native freshwater
mussels (Jacobson et al., 1993; Gillis et al., 2010).
Analysis of historical water-quality data suggests
that water column metals concentrations have
declined in recent decades (Price et al., 2014). Metals
and associated trace elements in the Clinch River system since 2000 demonstrate water column dissolved
concentrations for As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, Ni, Se, and Zn as
low, relative to USEPA’s CCC (Price et al., 2014).
Johnson et al. (2014) also found concentrations of the
same metals below the CCC from 2009 to 2011. However, Se concentrations during base flow and storm
events in whole water and dissolved phase were significantly higher at an impacted site, relative to a site
harboring high-quality mussel assemblages. They also
found dissolved (0.45-lm filtered) Fe and Mn in the
water column were correlated with mussel population
status along the mainstem Clinch River.
Cherry et al. (2001) reported concentrations of Al,
Fe, and Se in Clinch River interstitial waters that
exceeded acute toxicity values for sensitive freshwater
test organisms, with the highest levels measured in the
Clinch River reach with low-quality mussel assemblages. Cherry et al. (2001) also reported that the Cu
and Pb tissue concentrations of in situ exposed Corbicula fluminea correlated with declines in mussel species
richness at known mussel-assemblage locations. A similar pattern was detected by Johnson et al. (2014), who
found higher tissue concentrations of several metals
(including, Cd, Cu, Fe, Pb, K, and Th) in caged mussels
and all measured metals in native mussels from sites
with lower mussel-assemblage quality compared to
Horton Ford in the downstream segment supporting
high-quality assemblages. The caged mussels were
removed from the bed-sediment interface and exposed
only to the water column.
Sediment concentrations at all of the Clinch River
sites are at potentially stressful levels, with probable
waters than in natural river waters, suggesting that
the full range of water chemistry is influential as
demonstrated for laboratory test organisms by Mount
et al. (1997). The above studies with NaCl cannot be
translated to infer toxic dissolved solids levels in the
Clinch River where predominant major ions are
SO42 , HCO3 , Ca2+, and Mg2+, not Na+ and Cl . The
only study characterizing toxicity to mussels of solutions with SO42 , HCO3 , Ca2+, and Mg2+ as predominant major ions (Kunz et al., 2013) found toxicities
to juvenile Lampsilis siliquoidea at SC values of 504
and 565 lS/cm for 28-day exposures to two reconstituted waters. Although the Kunz et al. (2013) study
tested a suite of major ions similar to that found in
the Clinch River for mussel toxicity, the tested concentrations differed from mean base-flow values in
the Clinch River (Krstolic et al., 2013), especially for
SO42 and Mg2+. Continuous monitoring of the Clinch
River documents SC values occurring at the levels
reported as causing toxicity by Kunz et al. (2013).
Between March 2009 and October 2011, at Dungannon within the Clinch River’s impacted reach, 0.5% of
the in situ SC measurements exceeded 500 lS/cm,
and the maximum recorded value was 553 lS/cm
(Krstolic et al., 2013); while SC in the Guest River, a
major mined tributary of the Clinch River upstream
of Dungannon, exceeded 500 lS/cm ~50% of the time
(Johnson et al., 2014). However, no SC measurements
exceeding 500 lS/cm were recorded at sites with
high-quality mussel assemblages during this period
(maximum recorded SC values were 470 lS/cm at
Horton Ford, Tennessee, and 479 lS/cm at Cleveland,
Virginia; Krstolic et al., 2013). During low-flow years,
even higher SCs occurred in the Clinch River mainstem. For example, between October 2007 and March
2009, SC exceeded 500 lS/cm at a high-quality mussel assemblage site (Horton Ford, Tennessee) 8% of
the time (U.S. Geological Survey, National Water
Information System. Accessed by G.C. Johnson 16
December 2013, http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis); and,
thus, it can be inferred that 500 lS/cm exceedances
in the impacted reach near Dungannon, closer to the
Guest River’s high-SC water influx, were more frequent. Gaining greater understanding of major-ion
concentrations, extremes, and effects, including
potential chronic effects of persistent exposures to
concentrations that are elevated above natural background, is essential to improved understanding of
causes for mussel declines in the Clinch River.
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tent with origination from coal (Krstolic et al., 2013).
However, the current pattern of PAH distributions
among Clinch River bed sediments did not correlate
with mussel-assemblage quality (Johnson et al.,
2014), and concentrations at Pendleton Island were
lower than reported by Hampson et al. (2000). For
2010 and 2011, the fraction of bed sediments
composed of coal particles did not correlate with the
mussel-assemblage quality, metals, or PAH concentrations (Krstolic et al., 2013; Johnson et al., 2014).
effects concentration quotients (PECQs, which characterize Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn in sediments) above
0.2 threshold found by Wang et al. (2013) to cause
growth impairments (Johnson et al., 2014; Price
et al., 2014). Although none of the metals concentrations in the bed sediment corresponded to the spatial
distribution of the declining mussel populations, Ca,
Mg, Na, P, and Zn were negatively correlated with
multiple mussel health metrics, such as total density,
total recruitment, number of threatened or endangered species, and number of globally listed species
(Johnson et al., 2014).
This current collection of evidence indicates that
metals likely have played a role in mussel declines,
but the evidence is not conclusive. Metal concentrations in the water column are low relative to water
quality guidelines (USEPA, 2010), but Fe and Mn in
the water column were significantly higher in the
impacted reaches than in reaches harboring highquality assemblages (Johnson et al., 2014). Elevated
bed-sediment concentrations were found at levels that
have been shown to impair mussel growth (Wang
et al., 2013) throughout the Clinch River, indicating
that the bed sediment and associated interstitial
water could be affecting mussel populations. Mussel
tissue concentrations from two separate tests show
that mussels are bioaccumulating metals, with higher
concentrations occurring in the impacted reaches.
While the caged mussels were exposed only to the
water column, and for native mussels tests the sediment metals were higher but mussel tissue metals
were lower in the reach supporting high-quality
assemblages, it appears that the water column exposure is the dominant route of exposure to metals.
Bed-sediment metals are possibly a greater concern
for juvenile mussels due to their feeding and burrowing behaviors within the sediments (Yeager et al.,
1994).
Past Impacts: Spills and Releases
While episodic spills and release events have
occurred and have been influential in upstream segments above St. Paul (Price et al., 2014), there is no
evidence that these events have been influential as
causes for recent declines in the impacted segment
downstream of the Guest River confluence that
includes Pendleton Island (Jones et al., 2014).
CONCLUSION
The precipitous decline in mussel assemblages
documented in the Clinch River’s Virginia sections
raises serious conservation concerns. This fauna is a
stronghold for 20 extant federally endangered species; and, for most of these species, it is the best or
only remaining broodstock for propagation and
source of individuals for relocation. The findings of
Price et al. (2014) and Johnson et al. (2014) suggest
that primary current concerns are chronic rather
than acute stresses, as no contaminant levels known
to be acutely toxic, based on prior research, are evident. Price et al. (2014) has also found that measured water quality is better today than ≥2 decades
ago in most respects. The exceptions are the major
ions that predominate in Clinch River water chemistry. Dissolved solid concentrations are increasing
and correlate temporally while elevated SC correlates spatially with patterns of mussel decline, but
potential effects of the major ions present are not
well understood. Sediment metals concentrations are
at levels indicating their potential role as chronic
stressors throughout the river, and a number of
water column metal concentrations correlated negatively to mussel indices; however, sediment metals
concentrations did not correlate spatially with mussel assemblage quality. Water column metals also
appear as problematic given mussels’ known sensitivities and the bioaccumulation observed in impacted
sections. Further studies to evaluate multi-stressor
Organics
Coal mining is a major landscape activity in parts
of the Clinch River watershed (Figure 1). Hampson
et al. (2000) reported elevated and potentially toxic
PAH levels in Clinch River bed sediment at Pendleton Island, in the impacted reach. Organic contaminants, particularly PAHs, were investigated as
possible mussel stressors in the Clinch River reach
extending from Artrip, Virginia (5 km upstream from
Cleveland) to Swan Island, Tennessee, an approximately 165-km distance (Johnson et al., 2014). The
lightweight organic fraction of the bed sediment,
which predominantly consisted of coal particles, were
found to comprise 2.2-6.5% of the Clinch River sediments, and PAHs found in the sediments were consisJAWRA
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relationships with mussel physiological and life history response are needed to better understand causal
relationships. The information reported by these
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enhanced environmental monitoring, mussel conservation efforts, and future research for the Clinch
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FRESHWATER MUSSEL POPULATION STATUS
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