 Future Research
The freshwater malacological community has made a great deal of progress over the last two decades to clarify both the basal classification of freshwater mussels and the species-level diversity, but much more research is necessary. What remains especially fuzzy are the relationships in between: the branching patterns among species and genera nearer the leaves of the tree.
This is where the Graf Lab @ the University of Alabama fits in. Eastern North America harbors a large portion of the worldwide freshwater mussel diversity (more than a third of the species). The tools and theory that I have helped develop to integrate (1) phylogeny based upon morphological characters as well as nuclear and mitochondrial DNA with (2) biodiversity informatics of specimens, species, and higher taxa will (in my opinion) be extremely useful for placing the North American diversity into a global context.
 Much more information about the specifics of the various projects that I have undertaken over the last few years can be found on the MUSSEL Project Web Site. Interested students and collaborators should feel free to contact me to strike up fruitful partnerships -- before the freshwater mussel tree has been cut down.
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