Patricia R Ries
Patty Ries holds a B.S. in Biology with a concentration in Environmental Science and a M.S. in Aquatic Science from the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse.
Biography
Patty’s research interests focus on invertebrate ecology, specifically conservation and restoration of native freshwater mussels. Native freshwater mussels are a guild of filter-feeding bivalves currently facing worldwide declines. Patty uses a combination of comparative and experimental approaches to understand factors affecting the relative health of freshwater mussels and their distribution and abundance in large river systems.
Science and Products
Local scale spatial patterns of freshwater mussels in the Upper Mississippi River
Multiple physical and biological factors contribute to the structure of freshwater mussel communities in large rivers. Mussel distributions are frequently described as clumped or patchy. However, few surveys of mussel populations have been designed to quantify these spatial patterns. We used indicators of spatial autocorrelation to quantify...
Ries, Patricia; De Jager, Nathan R.; Newton, Teresa; Zigler, Steven J. Influence of surrounding land-use on mussel growth and glycogen levels in the St. Croix and Minnesota River basins
Freshwater mussels face threats from climate change and changing land use that are dramatically altering their habitat. The health of mussel populations and the state of current and past environmental conditions can be monitored by measuring mussel growth and glycogen levels. In this study we measured growth and glycogen levels in mussels from two...
Hornbach, Daniel J.; Stutzman, Hayley; Hove, Mark C.; Kozarek, Jessica; MacGregor, Kelly; Newton, Teresa; Ries, Patricia Spatial patterns of native freshwater mussels in the Upper Mississippi River
Multiple physical and biological factors structure freshwater mussel communities in large rivers, and their distributions have been described as clumped or patchy. However, few surveys of mussel populations have been conducted over areas large enough and at resolutions fine enough to quantify spatial patterns in their distribution. We used global...
Ries, Patricia R.; De Jager, Nathan R.; Zigler, Steven J.; Newton, Teresa Annual variation in recruitment of freshwater mussels and its relationship with river discharge
Vital rates such as mortality, growth, and recruitment are important tools to evaluate the status of threatened populations and identify their vulnerabilities, leading to enhanced conservation strategies. Native freshwater mussels are a guild of largely sedentary, filter-feeding bivalves currently facing worldwide declines. Lack of recruitment...
Ries, Patricia R.; Newton, Teresa; Haro, Roger J.; Zigler, Steven J.; Davis, Mike