DOI: 10.5061/dryad.nk98sf86h
title: Canadian freshwater mussels and their host associations

description: Freshwater mussels (order Unionida) are one of the world’s most imperiled
 taxonomic groups of animals. These mussels have an obligate parasitic
 larval phase wherein the larva (usually, a glochidium) must attach to a
 suitable host to complete its metamorphosis into a juvenile mussel. This
 review synthesizes the current knowledge on the hosts of all 55 species of
 freshwater mussels in Canada compiled from 264 citations, 70 of which were
 newly identified by this review. As of October 2023, 827 mussel-host
 interactions have been documented. The Winged Floater and the Lake Floater
 currently have no known hosts, with 14 other species having only a single
 associated evidence type. This review provides an updated library of
 current knowledge on hosts of Canadian unionids, discusses notable trends
 in the data, and outlines outstanding knowledge gaps to be addressed in
 future studies. Relatively few studies aimed at identifying unionid hosts
 have been conducted in Canadian waters. This lack of understanding of
 relevant ecological and climatic context has consequences for the
 development of appropriate conservation actions in Canada.
description: # Canadian freshwater mussels and their host associations Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.nk98sf86h](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.nk98sf86h) ##
 Description of the data and file structure Dataset contains the known or
 suspected hosts of Canada's freshwater mussel species (Unionidae,
 Margaritiferidae) collected from the Illinois Natural History
 Survey's Mussel Host Database and via literature review. Evidence
 types were assigned to each interaction in accorance with previously
 published literature. ### Files and variables #### File:
 Correlation_Studies_Hosts.R **Description:** Code used to test correlation
 between the number of documented hosts for a given mussel species and the
 number of studies that have explored those relationships #### File:
 Correlation_Studies_Hosts.csv **Description:** number of documented hosts
 for a given mussel species and the number of studies that have explored
 those relationships ##### Variables * Mussel Species: Mussel common name *
 Total Studies: Total number of studies that have explored host
 relationships for the corresponding mussel species * Total Hosts: number
 of documented hosts for the corresponding mussel species #### File:
 Mussel_Host_Interaction_Data.csv **Description:** List of the known and
 suspected mussel-host interactions for all 55 species of Canadian
 freshwater mussels and their corresponding evidence types. ##### Variables
 * Mussel Common: Mussel common name. * Host Common: Host common name. *
 Host Sp.: Host scientific name. * ET: Corresponding evidence type for
 mussel-host interaction.  | NS: Not Specified | Evidence type not provided
 | | :---------------------------- |
 :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | NI: Natural Infestation | Glochidia infestation observed on fish or amphibian under natural conditions | | LI: Laboratory Infestation | Glochidia infestation on fish or amphibian induced under experimental conditions | | LT: Laboratory Transformation | Complete metamorphosis into juvenile stage observed under experimental conditions | | NT: Natural Transformation | Complete metamorphosis into juvenile stage observed OR advanced encapsulation (e.g., internal organ development) identified on fish or amphibians under natural conditions | | RC: Range Correlation | Suspected larval-host association based on modeled or known range overlap | | ZT: Zero Transformation | Fish or amphibian determined to be an unsuitable host due to unsuccessful attachment or encapsulation | * Host Canadian: Host species occurs in Canada (1). Host species does not occur in Canada (0). * Locality: Locality where mussels used in the study were observed or collected. * Country: Country where the mussels used in the study were collected * Previously in Database: The specific interaction already listed in the Illinois Natural History Survey's Mussel Host Database (Y); The specific interaction was located by this review (N). * Citation: Source from which the data was extracted. ## Code/software R version 4.4.0. All code can be run using base R.