BEES Graduate Seminar - Dr. Jamie Bucholz
Thursday, April 17, 2025
3:30 PM-5:00 PM
Jamie Bucholz, PhD, Freshwater Mussel Technical Manager with the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, will present “Harnessing a community ecology-based framework for freshwater mussel propagation and restoration.”
Abstract
Understanding patterns in diversity across macro (e.g., species-level) and micro (e.g., molecular-level) scales can shed light on community function by elucidating the abiotic and biotic drivers of diversity within ecological communities. Examining the relationships among taxonomic and genetic metrics of diversity in freshwater mussels (Bivalvia: Unionidae), can aid in the recovery of these at-risk species. To preserve the species richness of ecological communities, and ultimately their ecosystem function, we must understand how diversity is partitioned within communities. Using quantitative community surveys and reduced-representation genome sequencing across 22 sites in seven rivers and two river basins, we surveyed 68 mussel species and sequenced 23 of these species to characterize intrapopulation genetic variation. We tested for the presence species-genetic diversity correlations (SGDCs) and abundance-genetic diversity correlations (AGDCs) across all sites to evaluate relationships between different metrics of diversity. Intrapopulation genetic diversity was strongly associated with the density (a scaled metric of abundance) of most species, indicating the presence of AGDCs. However, there was no consistent evidence for SGDCs. Although sites with greater cumulative multispecies densities of mussels had greater species richness, sites with higher genetic diversity did not always exhibit positive correlations with species richness, suggesting that there are spatial and evolutionary scales at which the processes influencing community-level diversity and intraspecific diversity differ. Our work reveals the importance of local abundance as an indicator of intrapopulation genetic diversity. Considering these results within the context of restoration initiatives, selecting species for propagation from localities where they are the most abundant may be the best way to optimize genetic diversity within propagated juveniles.
Biography
Jamie Bucholz, PhD, is the Freshwater Mussel Technical Manager at the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary. In this role, Jamie helps manage several projects relating to freshwater mussel propagation. Bucholz earned her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, her master’s degree from Central Michigan University, and her PhD from the University of Alabama. Bucholz’s doctoral dissertation focused on the population genomics of 23 species of freshwater mussels from the Tennessee and Mobile River Basins of the Southeastern USA. Her favorite mussel genus is Amblema.
You may contact Dr. Bucholz at jbucholz@delawareestuary.org.
Contact Information
Donna Fahres
df625@drexel.edu