Season 1, Episode 7
Clean Drinking Water Depends on Conservation of Gravely Imperiled and Endangered Freshwater Mussels with Abbie Gascho Landis
In this episode of From the Field, guest Abbie Gascho Landis, Author of a book entitled “Immersion: The Science and Mystery of Freshwater Mussels,” explains how Freshwater Mussels perform ecosystem services by cleaning rivers and streams that eventually make their way into our drinking water supply. One catch, 70% of Freshwater Mussels are imperiled and endangered due to pollution, man-made dams and a warming climate.
You'll Learn
How Abbie’s fascination with mussels started.
Connection with first freshwater mussel Abbie saw underwater and how it got her thinking about our water supply.
The story of Chewacla Creek and how freshwater mussels became involved in a heated dispute.
How freshwater mussels filter water.
Mussels need fish to reproduce.
The anatomy of a mussel.
How humans have played a role in the imperilment of freshwater mussels.
The shapes, sizes and names of freshwater mussels (hint: they’re funny!)
Harvesting freshwater mussels for buttons
What freshwater mussels need to thrive.
The propogation of freshwater mussels in mussel hatcheries.
The fate of freshwater mussels is in our hands.
How you can help by finding out more about your water supply.
Immersing yourself in new experiences can help you understand and explore nature.
Links From the Episode:
About Abbie
ABOUT DR. ABBIE GASCHO LANDIS
Abbie Gascho Landis is a writer and veterinarian whose work has been published in Pinchpenny Press, Full Grown People, and Paste Magazine. She has won Duke University’s Center for Documentary Studies 2015 Essay Award, an Arthur DeLong Writing Award, and was a finalist for the Constance Rooke Creative Nonfiction Award. Landis has a bachelor’s degree in English and biology from Goshen College and a doctorate in veterinary medicine from The Ohio State University. She first fell in love with mussels exploring creeks and streams in Alabama, home of the most complex and abundant—and one of the most threatened—mussel communities on Earth.
Landis writes from her home on a fixer-upper farm in Upstate New York, where she tries to keep up with her husband and two kids, and the animals, vegetables, and weeds, but often finds herself staring at the sky or flowers. She cares for dogs and cats as a veterinarian in a local general practice and at an urban emergency practice. Since growing up in Pennsylvania, Abbie has lived in seven different states across the country, but is now rooting herself on the farm.
Hosts & Guests
Priya Shelly – Host
Dr. Abbie Gascho Landis – Guest