Environmental DNA (eDNA) shedding and degradation rates of Mucket (Ortmanniana ligamentina) in a closed system

Data describe designed environmental DNA (eDNA) laboratory experiments for the estimation of eDNA shedding and degradation rates for adult Mucket (Ortmanniana ligamentina) at different biomass densities in a closed system. Parameters described include descriptions of laboratory collected water samples that were tested to estimate concentration of Mucket DNA, qPCR results and associated quality assurance measurements. A total of 12 experimental tanks (3 per biomass treatment) were used and randomly assigned one of the following biomass treatments: control = 0 mussels, low = 1 mussel, medium = 3 mussels, and high = 6 mussels per tank. Mussels were housed in experimental tanks for 7 days; water samples were collected daily for shedding rate experiments (SDL14). After 7 days, mussels were removed. Nine tanks (all non-low treatment tanks) were maintained an additional 2 weeks without mussels for degradation rate experiments (SDL15).