Toxicity of different life stages of cahaba river mudsnails to potassium, chloride, and nickelproject period: 08 08 2023 - 09 30 2026PROJECT abstract: freshwater snails are presumably sensitive to…

This U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Cooperative Research Units program award of $261,042.37 to Auburn University will fund a 3-year project to study the toxicity of different life stages of Cahaba River mudsnails to potassium, chloride, and nickel. The project aims to establish a protocol for toxicology testing of contaminants using mudsnails and determine how organism life stage affects the toxicity of these chemicals to three mudsnail species. The resulting data will be summarized in tables and a manuscript to help the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service complete species status assessments. This work is intended to provide insights into the sensitivity of these narrowly distributed endemic mudsnail species compared to more broadly distributed species, and inform assessments of current and future threats within the Cahaba River ecosystem.

Toxicity of different life stages of cahaba river mudsnails to potassium, chloride, and nickelproject period: 08 08 2023 - 09 30 2026PROJECT abstract: freshwater snails are presumably sensitive to changes in water quality, but there is a tremendous data GAP in sensitivity among species even in closely related groups. Unfortunately, the research focus has tended to be on invasive snails, and generally lacks even basic information on how native snails may respond to changes in water quality. In particular, within a diverse group of freshwater snails known as mudsnails, little is known and there are no documented protocols for conducting basic toxicity tests. To complicate matters, mudsnails are able to close their operculum allowing them to escape some exposure to toxic substances for some period of time. Subsequently, an understanding of how narrower-range endemic species such as mudsnails respond to different toxins at different life stages would be useful for developing improved conservation strategies and assessing threats. The resulting data will be summarized in tables and synthesized in a manuscript. Project purpose is to better understand the differences in toxicity of species and life stages within mudsnails (gill breathing snails).specific study objectives are:1. Establish a protocol for toxicology testing of contaminants using mudsnail AND2. Determine the influence of organism life stages (i.e., time since hatching) of elimia annettae, leptoxis ampla, and somatogyrus SP. On the toxicity of potassium, chloride, and nickel. Deliverables will include a table summary of the results, and a manuscript draft. The results are intended to help USFWS complete species status assessments. These data should provide helpful insight into the sensitivity of these species in comparison to more broadly distributed species. Moreover, these data should be useful for assessing current and future threats to the species within the cahaba river. From a broader perspective, this work should be an important step in developing methods that are needed for gill-breathing snails.