Remnant Freshwater Mussel Diversity in Rondeau Bay, Lake Erie Scott M

Remnant Freshwater Mussel Diversity in Rondeau Bay, Lake Erie Scott M. R EiD 1, 3 , V ictoRia KopF 1, a nita LEBaRon 1, and toDD J. M oRRiS 2

1aquatic Research and Monitoring Section, ontario Ministry of natural Resources and Forestry, trent University, Dna Building, 2140 East Bank Drive, peterborough, ontario K9J 7B8 canada 2Great Lakes Laboratory for Fisheries and aquatic Sciences, Fisheries and oceans canada, Burlington, ontario L7S 1a1 canada 3corresponding author: [email protected]

Reid, Scott M., Victoria Kopf, anita LeBaron, and todd J. Morris. 2016. Remnant freshwater mussel diversity in Rondeau Bay, Lake Erie. canadian Field-naturalist 130(1): 76–81. in 2014 and 2015, 27 sites in Rondeau Bay, ontario, canada, were surveyed for freshwater mussels. Rondeau Bay is a large coastal wetland on the north shore of Lake Erie. twenty-three species were identified from 120 live mussels, 15 fresh whole shells, 329 weathered whole shells, and 1121 weathered valves. Live individuals of the following species were collected: Eastern pondmussel ( Ligumia nasuta ; endangered in canada), Giant Floater ( Pyganodon grandis ), Round pigtoe ( Pleurobema sintoxia ; endangered in canada), and three-ridge ( Amblema plicata ). Fresh whole shells of the Mapleleaf ( Quadrula quadrula ; threatened in canada) were also found. Most species (78%), including 7 species at risk, were collected only as weathered shells. these results indicate a substantial decline in freshwater mussel diversity since the Zebra Mussel ( Dreissena polymorpha ) invasion of Lake Erie. Evidence shows that a viable population of only Giant Floater remains. Key Words: Freshwater mussels; Unionidae; unionids; species at risk; Zebra Mussel; Dreissena polymorpha; Rondeau Bay; Lake Erie; wetland; refuge; Giant Floater; Pyganodon grandis Introduction growth, on the north shore of Lake Erie. the bay is the invasion of the Laurentian Great Lakes basin by bounded by Rondeau provincial park on the east and dreissenid mussels — Zebra Mussel ( Dreissena poly - connected to the central basin of Lake Erie through a morpha pallas, 1771) and Quagga Mussel ( D. bugen - navigation channel. occasional mussel surveys have sis andrusov, 1897) — has resulted in substantial and occurred in Rondeau Bay over the past 120 years, with widespread declines in native mussel abundance and the last effort described as, “largely fruitless” (Zanatta diversity (Schloesser and nalepa 1994). By the early et al. 2002). 1990s, native mussels were nearly extirpated from off - shore waters in lakes Erie and St. clair (Metcalfe-Smith Methods et al . 2005). over the past 15 years, an increasing num - in 2014, 12 sites were sampled from 24 to 26 June ber of studies have demonstrated the importance of (Figure 1). Site selection was based on historical Rain - Great Lakes coastal wetlands to freshwater mussel con - bow Mussel collection records (Lower Great Lakes servation. compared with adjacent open water habi - Unionid Database, Fisheries and oceans canada) and tat, wetlands are less suitable for dreissenid coloniza - the occurrence of sand and gravel habitat, which is suit - tion and survival (Bowers and Szalay 2003; Sherman able for Rainbow Mussel (Metcalfe-Smith et al . 2005). et al. 2013) and, thus, provide a refuge for native mus - at these sites, the lake bed substrate was visually as - sels. Remnant mussel assemblages have been identi - sessed as 71% sand and gravel and 29% clay, silt, and fied in coastal areas of lakes Erie, Huron, ontario, organics (mean values). in 2015, 15 sites were sampled and St. clair (Zanatta et al. 2002; Bowers and Szalay from 22 to 25 June (Figure 1). Habitat selection in 2015 2003; Sherman et al. 2013; Reid et al. 2014; Zanatta was informed by past experience collecting Eastern et al. 2015). pondmussel (Reid et al. 2014). compared with the 2014 although intensive, semi-quantitative inventories sites, the lake bed of sites surveyed in 2015 had less of unionid mussels have recently been carried out in sand and gravel (20% of substrate composition) and coastal wetlands along the western and southern shores more clay, silt, and organics (80%). Depths of soft sedi - of Lake Erie (Zanatta et al. 2015), similar efforts have ment were also greater (up to 0.5 m versus up to 0.2 m). not been undertaken in canadian waters. in 2014 and combined, sites were widely distributed along the en - 2015, targeted surveys for 2 canadian species at risk, tire shoreline of the bay and represented a variety of Rainbow Mussel ( Villosa iris (Lea, 1829)) and Eastern habitats. pondmussel ( Ligumia nasuta (Say, 1817)), were con - Each site was searched for 4.5 person-hours (Met - ducted in Rondeau Bay to inform species status assess - calfe-Smith et al. 2000) using a visual-tactile sampling ments and delineation of protected habitats. Rondeau method (Reid et al . 2014). Visual-tactile searching in - Bay (42°17'35"n, 81°53'24"W) is a large (37 km 2), volved either floating on an air mattress and hand shallow (maximum depth 3 m) coastal embayment and searching the sediment for mussels (both on the surface wetland complex with abundant submerged macrophyte and probing through sediment for burrowed mussels)

76 ©The Ottawa Field-Naturalists’ Club (2016) 20 16 REiD ET AL .: F RESHWatER MUSSEL DiVERSity in RonDEaU Bay 77

FiGURE 1. Location of 2014 (●) and 2015 (○) freshwater mussel sampling sites in Rondeau Bay, Lake Erie, ontario.

or searching for mussels with a 0.33-m diameter under - (Rafinesque, 1820); 9%), pink Heelsplitter ( Potamilus water viewer (plastimo Round Underwater Viewer alatus (Say, 1817); 5%), and Mapleleaf ( Quadrula nuova Rade, Busalla, italy) or polarized lenses. quadrula (Rafinesque, 1820); 3.5%). a single, weath - Water depths at searched habitats were between 0.15 ered Rainbow Mussel valve was found. only species and 1.50 m. Live mussels and shells were identified from the tribes alasmidontini, pleurobemini, and Quad - to species (Metcalfe-Smith et al . 2005). Shell length rulini were identified from fresh whole shells, includ - (mm) of live mussels was measured with a dial ing the threatened Mapleleaf and endangered Round caliper (± 0.1 mm). Live mussels and attached dreis - pigtoe (Pleurobema sintoxia (Rafinesque, 1820)). Sub - senids were weighed separately (± 0.1 g). after pro - stantially more shell material was collected in 2014 than cessing, live mussels were returned to the sediment. in 2015. correspondingly, 4 times as many species were identified from shell material in 2014 (median = 8, range Results = 1–12) than in 2015 (median = 2, range = 0–6). twenty-three species were identified among 120 live Despite the intensive search effort (> 120 h), live mussels, 15 fresh whole shells, 329 weathered whole mussels from only 4 species — Eastern pondmussel, shells, and 1123 weathered valves (table 1). Excessive Giant Floater ( Pyganodon grandis (Say, 1829)), Round shell degradation made 912 weathered shells and shell pigtoe, and three-ridge ( Amblema plicata (Say, 1817)) fragments impossible to identify. Most species (78%), — were collected. Based on abundance, the current including 7 species at risk, were identified from weath - mussel assemblage is almost exclusively Giant Floater ered shells and valves only. Weathered shell material (97.5%, table 1). almost all live Giant Floaters were was dominated numerically at the tribe level by Lamp - collected in 2015; of these, 84% were collected from silini (82% of collection) and at the species level by 4 sites along the western shoreline. a wide range of Fatmucket ( Lampsilis siliquoidea (Barnes, 1823); 60% Giant Floater shell lengths indicates ongoing popula - of collection), Wabash pigtoe ( Fusconaia flava (Ra - tion recruitment (Figure 2). Dreissenids were attached finesque, 1820); 10%), Deertoe ( Truncilla truncata to 88% of live mussels (all 4 species) and found at most 78 tHE canaDian FiELD -n atURaLiSt Vol. 130 d n ) a

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FiGURE 2. Frequency distribution of shell length of the 117 live Giant Floaters ( Pyganodon grandis ) collected from Ron - deau Bay, Lake Erie, ontario, in 2014 and 2015. sites (89%). Up to 79 g of dreissenids were removed the remaining, depauperate mussel fauna in Ron - from individual live mussels. the mass ratio of attached deau Bay includes small numbers of 3 species-at-risk dreissenids to live mussel ranged from 0.0009 to 1.393 and 1 abundant species. Mussel diversity and densities (median = 0.0422). are much lower than in important refuges identified in the western basin of Lake Erie and the Lake St. clair Discussion delta (McGoldrick et al. 2009; Zanatta et al. 2015). in this study, shell material from 70% of the species the abundance and richness of Rondeau Bay mussels known from the canadian waters of Lake Erie (Met - is comparable to assemblages in the large, shallow re - calfe-Smith et al. 1998) was found, more species than gion of Sandusky Bay and the south shore, central found in previous surveys in Rondeau Bay (table 2). basin Lake Erie wetlands (Zanatta et al. 2015). Except for cylindrical papershell ( Anodontoides ferus - as reported for other Lake Erie and ontario coastal sacianus (Lea, 1834)), all species previously reported wetlands, an abundant Giant Floater population is pre - from Rondeau Bay were detected. Before the Zebra sent in Rondeau Bay. the species’ persistence after Mussel invasion of Lake Erie (about 1989), 15 species the Zebra Mussel invasion can be attributed to its had been collected from Rondeau Bay, of which 9 be - oppor tunistic life history strategy (high fecundity, ear - longed to the tribe Lampsilini. Subsequent sampling ly age of reproduction, and short life-span; Haag identified 9 additional species and suggested that a 2012) and its association with habitats, i.e., soft sub - more balanced representation of species from all 5 strates, that are not well suited for Zebra Mussel and tribes was historically present (table 2). Most (89%) allow for native mussels to burrow (Bowers and Sza - of these new records, however, were associated with lay 2003; Zanatta et al. 2015). Low density popula - weathered shells. the large amount of shell material tions of mussels at risk have also been detected in encountered during this study is likely the result of north shore Lake ontario coastal wetlands (Reid et al. high mortality of native mussels following the Zebra 2014). However, the viability of such small popula - Mussel colonization of Rondeau Bay (Schloesser et al. tions is uncertain. our study highlights the need for 1996) and likely offset the poor detectability typical of further, intensive sampling of north shore Lake Erie many freshwater mussel species (Strayer and Smith wetlands to document the viability of other remnant 2003). populations of mussel species at risk. 80 tHE canaDian FiELD -n atURaLiSt Vol. 130

taBLE 2. comparison of Rondeau Bay mussel species collected in 6 surveys between 1894 and 2015. Historical records are from the canadian Museum of nature, the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, the Royal ontario Museum, and Environment canada collections. common name 1894 1934 1961–65 1988 2001 2014–15 SUBFaMiLy aMBLEMinaE tRiBE aMBLEMini three-ridge L L tRiBE LaMpSiLini Black Sandshell W W Fawnsfoot L W W Deertoe * L W W Eastern pondmussel L L * L W L Fatmucket L L L L W W Fragile papershell L L L W W Kidneyshell W W Lilliput W pink Heelsplitter L * W W plain pocketbook L * W W Rainbow L * W Round Hickorynut W Snuffbox L * * W W threehorn Wartyback L W tRiBE pLEURoBEMini Round pigtoe * W L Spike W Wabash pigtoe L L W W tRiBE QUaDRULini Mapleleaf L * W L pimpleback * W SUBFaMiLy UnioninaE tRiBE aLaSMiDontini creeper W cylindrical papershell L Flutedshell W W Giant Floater L L L L W L Total number of species 6 10 11 7 17 23 note: L = live mussel or fresh whole shell, W = weathered shell or valve, * = no description of material provided with record.

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