Malacology

Mussels are stationary organisms that filter particles from the water; chemical concentrations in their tissues can be an indicator of the presence of local contamination.  An intensive remediation project that removed over 2.7 million cubic yards of sediment to reduce poly-chlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contamination was completed in the Upper Hudson River (from Fort Edward to Troy, NY) from 2009 through 2015.  We plan to analyze PCBs within mussel tissues that we collected from a series of five dam-defined river pools in 2013 and 2015.  The uppermost pool serves as a reference site, upstream of PCB contamination, and is followed by four pools from the source of original contamination (Fort Edward) and progressing downstream.  Future mussel collections and monitoring efforts will allow us to monitor and assess long-term trends in the mussel community and in PCB levels that may be present in mussel tissues post-remediation.  Since PCBs are known to bioaccumulate in organisms, particularly in lipids, and mussels are at the bottom tier of the food chain, this study has broader implications in monitoring environmental health following large-scale remediation projects.