Freshwater Mollusk Conservation Society Water Quality and Freshwater Gastropod Workshop

March 15-18, 2004
Paul "Bear" Bryant Conference Center Tuscaloosa, Alabama

The Freshwater Mollusk Conservation Society (FMCS) Water Quality and Freshwater Gastropod workshops were hosted by the Department of Biology at the University of Alabama, at the Paul "Bear" Bryant Conference Center in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The programs for each event are listed below.

For more information please contact Dr. Charles Lydeard, University of Alabama, Department of Biodiversity and Systematics, Box 870345, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, e-mail: clydeard@bama.ua.edu.

General Water Quality Conference

Monday, March 15, 2004

Threats
Opening remarks, Dr. Thomas Watters, President of the Freshwater Mollusk Conservation Society
Emerging contaminants for water quality, Dr. Elizabeth Nichols, N.C. State Department of Toxicology, Raleigh, NC
Response of fish communities to cropland density in the Eastern Highland Rim Ecoregion, Mr. Jeff Powell, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Daphnie, AL.
Response of fish and invertebrate communities to urban land-use in the Valley and Ridge Ecoregion, Mr. Brian Atkins, U.S. Geological Survery, Montgomery, AL.
Linking coastal marine habitat degradation to river sediment, toxicity, and nutrient issues in the Gulf of Mexico, Ms. Larinda Tervelt, Gulf of Mexico Program Office, EPA/GMPO, Stennis Space Center, MS
How surface water quality impacts water treatment costs, Mr. Charles Bohac, Tennessee Valley Authority, Chattanooga TN
Surface Water Quality - A Utility Perspective, Mr. Michael Doyle, City of Florence Utilities Water Department, Florence, AL.
The Cypress Creek Stream Bank Initiative.  Mr. James Vance, City of Florence Utilities Water Department, Florence, AL. 
Degradation of Urban Streams and Integrated Sampling Programs to Identify Possible Causative Factors, Dr. Robert Pitt, University of Alabama, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Tuscaloosa, AL.

Tuesday, March 16, 2004

Assessments
The Nature Conservancy's Freshwater Initiative, Mr. David Braun, The Nature Conservancy. TNC and WWF, Process for biodiversity coverage in the Tennessee River Basin and Mobile River Basin, Mr. Ryan Smith & Mr. Paul Freeman, The Nature Conservancy, Raleigh, NC.
World Wildlife Fund's Southeastern Rivers Program, Ms. Wendy Smith, World Wildlife Fund, Nashville, TN
Status of freshwater fishes in the Southeast, Dr. Melvin Warren, United States Department of Agriculture - Forest Service - Southern Research Station, Oxford, MS.
Status of freshwater crayfish in the Southeast, Dr. Christopher Skelton, Georgia College & State University Milledgeville, GA
Status of freshwater mussels in the Southeast, Dr. Richard Neves, VPI / USGS Co-op Unit, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, VA
Status of freshwater snails in the Southeast, Dr. Kenneth Brown, Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA.
Tennessee Valley Authority, Reservoir Release Initiative (RRI), Mr. Chuck Bach, Tennessee Valley Authority, Knoxville, TN
Freshwater mussel recovery in the Duck River basin, Mr. Steve Ahlstedt, U.S. Geological Survey, Knoxville, TN
Utilities planning on the Duck River basin, Mr. Larry Murdock, Duck River Development Agency, Shelbyville, TN
Speaker panel discussion.

FMCS Gastropod Workshop  

Wednesday, March 17, 2004

Showing your Shells - An Introduction to Freshwater Gastropod Identification  
Phylogeny and classification of Freshwater Gastropods, Dr. Ellen Strong, Bell Museum, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN.
Viviparidae and Ampullariidae, Dr. Paul Johnson, Tennessee Aquarium Research Institute, Cohutta, GA.
Pleuroceridae, Mr. Jeffrey Sides, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL.
Hydrobiidae, Dr. Stephanie Clark, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL.
Assimineidae, Neritidae, Valvatidae, Pomatiopsidae. Dr. Russell Minton, University of Louisiana at Monroe, Monroe, LA.
Lymnaeidae, Dr. John Burch, University of Michigan, Department of Zoology, Ann Arbor, MI.
Physidae, Dr. Amy Wethington, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN. Planorbidae, Ms. Katherine Perez, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL.
Ancylidae, Ms. Andrea Walther, University of Michigan, Department of Zoology, Ann Arbor, MI. Taxonomic Grab Bag & Mixer - Taxa working groups by family - bring your shells!

Thursday, March 18, 2004

Gastropod Identification, Biology, and Conservation  
Introduced freshwater snails, Dr. David Campbell, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL.
An introduction to terrestrial gastropods, Ms. Kathryn Perez, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL
Systematics 101: a primer in molecular phylogenetics, Dr. Russ Minton, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL.
Introduction to shell morphometric analyses, Jeffery Sides and Kathryn Perez, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL. - FMCS Morphometrics Handout -
General ecological principles of freshwater gastropods, Dr. Robert T. Dillon, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC.
Conservation and recovery activities with freshwater gastropods, Mr. Steve Ahlstedt and Ms. Sabrina Novak2, United States Geological Survey, Knoxville, TN and Tennessee Aquarium Research Institute, Cohutta, GA
Working towards a National Conservation Strategy for the Recovery of Freshwater Gastropods, comments to the draft strategy, a roundtable discussion led by Paul Johnson, Ken Brown, and Chuck Lydeard, Tennessee Aquarium Research Institute, Cohutta, GA, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL