KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee’s rivers and streams are among the most biodiverse freshwater systems in the world, but one of their most important inhabitants is increasingly at risk.
Freshwater mussels — often overlooked and endangered — play a critical role in filtering water across the country. Now, a group of University of Tennessee Ph.D. students is working to better understand how these creatures survive in the wild in hopes of saving the species.
Along the Powell River in Claiborne County, researchers are conducting an experiment focused on one of Tennessee’s most crucial — and least understood — animals…