Diane Waller
Science and Products
Development of Sampling Protocols and Diagnostic Tools for Assessment of Freshwater Mussel Health
Assessing Impacts of Emerging and Established Diseases to Aquatic Ecosystems
The role of disease in freshwater mussel declines has been largely ignored due to the lack of appropriate diagnostic tools....
Development of a Broad Microarray Technology to Survey for Aquatic Pathogens
Assessing Impacts of Emerging and Established Diseases to Aquatic Ecosystems
The need to maintain healthy aquatic ecosystems and sustain healthy communities is greatly recognized. Aquatic pathogens pose a...
Assessing Impacts of Emerging and Established Diseases to Aquatic Ecosystems
Native freshwater mussels play a critical role in aquatic environments and are considered “ecosystem engineers” and indicators of water quality by constantly filtering water. Populations of native freshwater mussels have declined in recent years, and this decline has been attributed to factors such as habitat degradation, pollution, and invasive species, among others. The importance of these...
Investigation Into Mass Mussel Die-off Events
Assessing Impacts of Emerging and Established Diseases to Aquatic Ecosystems
The decline of native freshwater mussels has the potential to devastate aquatic communities. Although factors such as habitat...
Management Tools for Dreissenid Mussels
Dreissenid mussels have posed an aquatic invasive species challenge in the United States since their arrival in the Great Lakes in the 1980s. Zebra (Dreissena polymorpha) and Quagga (D. bugensis) mussels are filter feeders with high reproductive capacity. Their behaviors result in altered nutrient cycles, shifts in trophic structures, and extirpation of some native species in...
Development of Selective Control Tools
Management Tools for Dreissenid Mussels
Currently, dreissenid mussel populations are spreading and becoming a growing problem in many aquatic systems, making it important to find management techniques that are selective for the invasive...
Evaluation of Carbon Dioxide to Control Dreissenid Mussels
Management Tools for Dreissenid Mussels
Carbon dioxide (CO2) has been suggested as a chemical control for a variety of invasive aquatic organisms, including Asian Carp. USGS researchers and partners evaluated the efficacy of low CO...
Evaluation of Copper as a Control Agent for Invasive Mussels
Management Tools for Dreissenid Mussels
USGS researchers and partners conducted an experimental application of low dose copper, as EarthTecQZ, to a bay in Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota. The veliger density and settlement were compared to that...
Carbon Dioxide for General Aquatic Invasive Species Control
Invasive Carp Control: Carbon Dioxide
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is being evaluated as a new fishery chemical for general aquatic invasive species control. Most research has focused on its effectiveness as a behavioral...
Effects of Carbon Dioxide on Non-Target Organisms
Invasive Carp Control: Carbon Dioxide
Chemical controls are a vital component of many effective Integrated Pest Management plans. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is being evaluated as a new fishery chemical for invasive carps...
Invasive Mussel Control Science: Management Tools for Assessing the Risks and Control of Invasive Dreissenid Species
Invasive zebra and quagga mussels (Dreissena polymorpha and D. rostriformis bugensis, respectively) are causing significant ecological and economic impacts and the scope of these impacts increases as they continue to spread across North America. The USGS conducts science to inform management actions for controlling and mitigating the impacts of invasive mussels. Studies...
Transformation methods for the glochidia of the spectaclecase mussel Cumberlandia monodonta
The spectaclecase mussel, Cumberlandia monodonta, was effectively listed as federally endangered in April 2012 (https://federalregister.gov/a/2012-5603). It is endemic to the Mississippi, Ohio and Missouri River basins and historically inhabited 44 streams in these basins (USFWS 2014). Currently, the species is known to inhabit 20 of the...
Mussel mass mortality and the microbiome: Evidence for shifts in the bacterial microbiome of a declining freshwater bivalve
Freshwater mussels (Unionida) are suffering mass mortality events worldwide, but the causes remain enigmatic. Here, we describe an analysis of bacterial loads, community structure, and inferred metabolic pathways in the hemolymph of pheasantshells (Actinonaias pectorosa) from the Clinch River, USA, during a multi-year mass mortality event....
Richard, Jordan; Campbell, Lewis J.; Leis, Eric; Agbalog, Rose; Dunn, Christopher D.; Waller, Diane L.; Knowles, Susan; Putnam, Joel G.; Goldberg, Tony Using environmental DNA (eDNA) to detect the endangered Spectaclecase Mussel (Margaritifera monodonta)
Margaritifera monodonta, or the Spectaclecase Mussel, is a federally endangered freshwater mussel species that has experienced a 55% reduction in range and is currently concentrated in 3 rivers in the Midwest region of the United States (Gasconade and Meramec rivers, Missouri, and St Croix River, Wisconsin). The detection of new populations by...
Lor, Yer; Schreier, Theresa M.; Waller, Diane L.; Merkes, Christopher M. Mass mortality in freshwater mussels (Actinonaias pectorosa) in the Clinch River, USA, linked to a novel densovirus
Freshwater mussels (order Unionida) are among the world’s most biodiverse but imperiled taxa. Recent unionid mass mortality events around the world threaten ecosystem services such as water filtration, nutrient cycling, habitat stabilization, and food web enhancement, but causes have remained elusive. To examine potential infectious causes of...
Richard, Jordon; Leis, Eric; Dunn, Christopher D.; Agbalog, Rose; Waller, Diane L.; Knowles, Susan; Putnam, Joel G.; Goldberg, Tony Toxicity of carbon dioxide to freshwater fishes: Implications for aquatic invasive species management
Carbon dioxide (CO2) has been approved by the US Environmental Protection Agency as a new aquatic pesticide to control invasive Asian carps and other aquatic nuisance species in the United States. However, limited CO2 toxicity data could make it challenging for resource managers to characterize the potential risk to nontarget species during...
Cupp, Aaron R.; Smerud, Justin R.; Thomas, Linnea M; Waller, Diane L.; Smith, David L.; Erickson, Richard A.; Gaikowski, Mark P. Temperature‐related responses of an invasive mussel and 2 unionid mussels to elevated carbon dioxide
Zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) have exacerbated the decline of native freshwater mussels (Order Unionida) in North America since their arrival in the 1980s. Options for controlling invasive mussels, particularly in unionid mussel habitats, are limited. Previously, carbon dioxide (CO2) showed selective toxicity for zebra mussels, relative to...
Waller, Diane L.; Bartsch, Michelle R.; Lord, Eric G.; Erickson, Richard A.
Assessment of uncontained Zequanox applications for zebra mussel control in a Midwestern lake
Zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) are invasive bivalves that have perturbed aquatic ecosystems within North America since their introduction in the mid-1980s. Control of zebra mussels has largely been restricted to raw water conveyance systems and associated infrastructures because few control products are registered for application in surface...
Luoma, James A.; Waller, Diane L.; Severson, Todd J.; Barbour, Matthew T.; Wise, Jeremy K.; Lord, Eric G.; Bartsch, Michelle R.; Bartsch, Lynn A. The status of mussel health assessment and a path forward
Declines of freshwater mussel (order Unionida) populations worldwide are attributed to habitat degradation, pollution, and invasive species, among other factors. However, these purported causes do not fully explain the enigmatic decline and large-scale die-offs of mussels that have occurred in assumedly “healthy” streams across a wide geographic...
Waller, Diane L.; Cope, Greg A novel picorna-like virus in a Wabash Pigtoe (Fusconaia flava) from the upper Mississippi River, USA
Unionid mussels are threatened by multiple environmental stressors and have experienced mass mortality events over the last several decades, but the role of infectious disease in unionid health and population declines remains poorly understood. Although several microbial agents have been found in unionids, to date only one virus has been...
Goldberg, Tony; Dunn, Christopher N.; Leis, Eric; Waller, Diane L. A comparison of bacteria cultured from unionid mussel hemolymph between stable populations in the upper Mississippi River and a mortality event in the Clinch River
The diagnosis of bacterial disease in freshwater unionid mussels has been hindered by a lack of baseline information regarding the microbial communities associated with these animals. In this study, we cultured and identified bacteria from the hemolymph of stable mussel populations from the upper Mississippi River basin and compared results to...
Leis, Eric; Erickson, Sarah; Waller, Diane L.; Richard, Jordan; Goldberg, Tony Lethal and sublethal responses of native mussels (Unionidae: Lampsilis siliquoidea and Lampsilis higginsii) to elevated carbon dioxide
Levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) that have been proposed for aquatic invasive species control (24 000 – 96 000 μatm partial pressure of CO2 (PCO2); 1 atm = 101.325 kPa) were tested on two juvenile mussels, the fatmucket (Lampsilis siliquoidea) and the US federally endangered Higgins’ eye (Lampsilis higginsii). A suite of responses (survival,...
Waller, Diane L.; Bartsch, Michelle R.; Bartsch, Lynn A.; Jackson, Craig Building a response network to investigate potential pathogens associated with unionid mortality events
Unexplained mortality events have confounded the mussel conservation community for over 30 years. While the effects of chemical pollutants and environmental factors have been examined, few investigations have focused on the identification of potential mussel pathogens. Consequently, very little is known regarding the impact that pathogens have on...
Leis, Eric; Waller, Diane L.; Knowles, Susan; Goldberg, Tony; Putnam, Joel G.; Richard, Jordan; Erickson, Sarah; Blevins, Emilie; Weinzinger, Jesse Use of carbon dioxide in zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) control and safety to a native freshwater mussel (Fatmucket, Lampsilis siliquoidea)
Control technology for dreissenid mussels (Dreissena polymorpha and D. bugensis) currently relies heavily on chemical molluscicides that can be both costly and ecologically harmful. There is a need for more environmentally neutral tools to manage dreissenid mussels, particularly in cooler water. Carbon dioxide (CO2) has been shown to be lethal to...
Waller, Diane L.; Bartsch, Michelle R.