Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
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Miller, A. C. and B. S. Payne (1991). Investigation of freshwater mussels (Unionidae) at selected sites in the lower Ohio and Cumberland rivers, September 1990. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Waterways Experimental Station, Technical Report WES/TR/EL-91-9.
A survey to assess community characteristics, density, population demography of dominant species, and the likelihood of finding endangered species of freshwater mussels (Unionidae) was conducted in the lower Ohio River (river miles (RM) 954.0-964.0), the lower two miles of the Cumberland River, and a reach of the Ohio River (RM 920.0-920.5) near Smithland Dam in September 1990. Data will be used to analyze impacts of construction and operation of a new lock and dam at RM 964.4 on the Ohio River and modification of Smithland Lock and Dam near the confluence of the Cumberland River. Twenty-three species of unionids were collected using qualitative methods in the lower Ohio River; the fauna was dominated by Fusconaia ebena (40.9 percent), Quadrula pustulosa pustulosa (10.76 percent), Quadrula quadrula (10.6 percent), and Amblema plicata plicata (9.0 percent). Total unionid density ranged from 37.6 to 68.0 individuals/sq m, and Corbicula fluminea density ranged from 11.2 to 26.8 individuals/sq m. Four specimens of the orange-footed pimpleback Plethobasus cooperianus, listed as endangered by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (1987), were collected (two using qualitative methods; two using quantitative methods).