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Freshwater MusselsMy taxon of choice for addressing these questions is the bivalve order Unionoida, commonly known as freshwater mussels. These mollusks have demonstrated themselves to be ideal for addressing questions at the interface of evolution and ecology -- studies of historical and contemporary biological processes. The group is globally diverse, with ca. 860 species worldwide. They are also ancient, extending back well into the Mesozoic (150+ million years).
These traits conspire to make unionoid taxa and their distributions useful for testing evolutionary hypotheses over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales: the phylogeny of freshwater mussel lineages is closely tied to their geography. More general information about freshwater mussels can be found on the MUSSEL Project Web Site. |
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Last updated 10 August 2011 |
Moreover, the unique and complicated mussel life cycle involving larval parasitism upon freshwater fishes makes them generally poor dispersers, especially across terrestrial and marine barriers. 
