Clemson University TigerPrints All Dissertations Dissertations 5-2018 Water-Electricity Nexus: Assessing Impacts of Habitat Loss on Freshwater Mussel Assemblages in the Savannah Basin, South Carolina Snehal Subhash Mhatre Clemson University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_dissertations Recommended Citation Mhatre, Snehal Subhash, "Water-Electricity Nexus: Assessing Impacts of Habitat Loss on Freshwater Mussel Assemblages in the Savannah Basin, South Carolina" (2018). All Dissertations. 2120. https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_dissertations/2120 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations at TigerPrints. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TigerPrints. For more information, please contact [email protected]. WATER-ELECTRICITY NEXUS: ASSESSING IMPACTS OF HABITAT LOSS ON FRESHWATER MUSSEL ASSEMBLAGES IN THE SAVANNAH BASIN, SOUTH CAROLINA A Dissertation Presented to the Graduate School of Clemson University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Wildlife and Fisheries Biology by Snehal Subhash Mhatre May 2018 Accepted by: Dr. Alan R. Johnson, Committee Chair Dr. Kyle Barrett Dr. John Hains Dr. John Rodgers, Jr. ABSTRACT The environmental effects of energy production are well known, yet its exact impacts on freshwater resources are often difficult to recognize and measure. Freshwater mussels are extremely imperiled organisms which act as sentinels of freshwater streams and are greatly understudied in context of their drastic decline caused in part due to large water demands by the energy sector. I sought to estimate historic, current and forecasted water use by electricity generation at national, regional and local- scale. To relate the impacts of water-use by electricity generation on freshwater mussels, I conducted occupancy surveys for eight freshwater mussel species in Savannah River Basin, South Carolina. I modeled landscape and local factors potentially influencing occupancy and assessed whether the occupancy of species indicated vulnerability to the presence of impoundments. I also modeled the viability of the endangered Carolina heelsplitter (Lasmigona decorata) metapopulation in response to habitat loss caused by water appropriation associated with the energy sector. The results suggest that water-use is projected to increase in the future irrespective of clean energy policies and variety of energy mix. The water consumption is predicted to increase at a local scale and the water withdrawals will vary spatially and temporally. The site occupancy varied with species and was significantly correlated with local habitat factors such as stream width and substrate heterogeneity and landscape driven factors such as % forest and presence of impoundment. The Carolina heelsplitter metapopulation exhibited a gradual decline in response to both habitat degradation and fragmentation for both effective population sizes, but the effect was more significant at lower population sizes. The findings of this ii dissertation suggest that mussel assemblages in the Savannah river basin are more likely to benefit from habitat restoration than the removal of dispersal barriers and management efforts for threatened mussel species should prioritize habitat protection and restoration. iii DEDICATION This work is dedicated to the loving memory of my grand-uncle, Mr. Janardhan Patil for his continual support and encouragement towards the pursuit of higher education. Thank you, Mama Ajoba, through your legacy you’ll be constant source of inspiration and motivation. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to many people who contributed and helped in the completion of this dissertation. First and foremost, I thank my academic advisor and guide Dr. Alan Johnson for his constant support, unfailing encouragement and useful critiques during my tenure as a doctoral student. You provided me with a valuable opportunity of selecting a research subject of my own choosing and for that I am extremely grateful. I would like to thank my advisory committee, Dr. Kyle Barrett, Dr. John Rodgers and Dr. Johns Hains for their time, insight and much appreciated guidance in conceptualizing and implementing this research project. I would like to thank Dr. William Bridges for providing valuable statistical expertise. I would like to extend my gratitude to the Clemson University’s Department of Biological Sciences (College of Science) and Department of Forestry and Environmental Conservation (College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences) for supporting me financially with graduate teaching and grading assistantships as well as the Graduate Student Government’s Professional Enrichment Grants for travel support. Chapters 2, 3 and 4 of this dissertation are publications proposed for submission to peer-reviewed journals. Chapters 2 and 4 are co-authored with Dr. Alan Johnson and Chapter 3 with Dr. Kyle Barrett and Dr. Alan Johnson. I appreciate the contribution of the principal collaborators towards project design, statistical analysis of data and reviewing of manuscripts. I extend my gratitude to Morgan Wolf of United States Fish and Wildlife Service for her help in identifying freshwater mussel species and in data v collection. Morgan, you were always patient and understanding and a great mentor. Thanks for accompanying me on the long field visits and spending the hot summer days half submerged in water looking for the spectacular Carolina Heelsplitter. Shefali Azad- Thank you for your help with the data collection. I am glad to have known you in the capacity of a colleague and friend. My friends in India and United States- thanks for your support, love and words of wisdom. A few names warrant special thanks. Sneha- you have always believed in me and encouraged me to follow my dreams. Neela for being my first friend at Clemson and an unfailing guide. Neel, Dani and Arun for being your awesome selves and for lending an eager ear whenever I felt like venting out. Sukh for being a terrific roommate and an even better friend/soul-sister. Hrishi for your advice when I needed it the most and being able to share my love for books with you. Kanika, our shared fondness of Harry Potter and pop-culture kept me cheerful even during the gloomiest times. Sriram, Venky, Preethi, Clara, Krithika and Navdeep thanks for being solid friends and I am thrilled to have you all in my life. My old office mates; Cady, Carly and Karen- thanks for making me feel welcome at Clemson and in the department; and the recent ones, Caroline, Juliet and Yvan- for being such motivating colleagues. My family- I am grateful for your support through all the highs and lows. My godparents- Drs. Rita and Rajeev Dhamankar, your constant inspiration and valuable advice mean a lot to me. My parents, Drs. Pratibha and Subhash Mhatre - I am eternally indebted to you for inculcating the values of kindness and compassion, for stimulating intellectual curiosity since a young age, and for the endless words of encouragement vi every time I wavered. Shruti, you are a fantastic sister and a delightful ray of sunshine in my life. Lastly, Utkarsh Patil- my friend since the beginning, fiancé for the middle part and husband now. Thank you for your refreshing comedic interjections and for your firm belief and unfaltering faith in me all along. Without your constant love and support none of this would indeed be possible. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page TITLE PAGE .................................................................................................................... i ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... ii DEDICATION ................................................................................................................ iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................... v LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... x LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................... xii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................... 1 Summary ................................................................................................. 1 Literature Cited ........................................................................................ 6 II. ELECTRICITY-WATER NEXUS: A CRITICAL REVIEW OF WATER USE IN ELECTRICITY SECTOR AT THREE SPATIAL SCALES- NATIONAL, REGIONAL AND LOCAL ........................... 15 Abstract .................................................................................................. 15 Introduction ............................................................................................ 16 Methods.................................................................................................. 27 Results .................................................................................................... 31 Discussion .............................................................................................. 38 Literature Cited ...................................................................................... 44 III. LOCAL AND LANDSCAPE FACTORS INFLUENCE OCCUPANCY OF FRESHWATER MUSSELS IN THE SAVANNAH RIVER BASIN,