Freshwater mussel rapid assessment sampling protocol for wadeable streams

In 2018, a standardized protocol for sampling Brook Floater (Alasmidonta varicosa) was developed with the goal of understanding occupancy of the At-Risk species across its range (Sterrett et al. 2018). The protocol was developed as one of the first tasks of the Brook Floater Working Group (BFWG), a group of scientists and managers throughout the species’ range along the Atlantic coast from Georgia (United States) to Nova Scotia (Canada). The Brook Floater Rapid Assessment Monitoring Protocol has been widely used by state agencies and non-profit organizations over the past decade and has been increasingly used for collecting data on other freshwater mussel species and for purposes other than understanding species occupancy. As such, the new protocol described herein was developed to expand the scope of the Brook Floater protocol for broader applications, while retaining most of the basic survey methods from Sterrett et al. (2018). Importantly, this new protocol offers more flexibility than the Brook Floater protocol in that it does not require random site selection, has no minimum channel width, and can be completed by a single person. This protocol includes additional details on mussel handling and safety, new guidance on site selection, and a new section on data management. We intend that this protocol is used for sampling freshwater mussels in wadeable streams when the goal is not an estimate of species’ occupancy; Sterrett et al. (2018) remains a valuable protocol for occupancy assessment.