Freshwater mussels are declining globally, and effective conservation requires prioritizing research and actions to identify and mitigate threats impacting mussel species. Conservation priorities vary widely, ranging from preventing imminent extinction to maintaining abundant populations. Here, we develop a portfolio of priority research topics for freshwater mussel conservation assessment. To address these topics, we group research priorities into two categories: intrinsic or extrinsic factors. Intrinsic factors are indicators of organismal or population status, while extrinsic factors encompass environmental variables and threats. An understanding of intrinsic factors is useful in monitoring, and of extrinsic factors are important to understand ongoing and potential impacts on conservation status. This dual approach can guide conservation status assessments prior to the establishment of priority species and implementation of conservation management actions.

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Biological invasions are commonly observed in both the natural habitats and those which are altered by human activities. An understanding of the mechanisms involved in the successful introduction, establishment and invasion of exotic taxa is essential in

An increasing threat to local, native freshwater mussels (Unionida)-an ecologically important but globally alarmingly declining groupis the invasion by exotic bivalves. The Enemy Release Hypothesis predicts that introduced species should benefit from enemy-mediated competition because they are less likely to be harmed by natural enemies, such as parasites, than their native competitors. We investigated within-site differences in parasitism between sympatric native (tot. five spp.) and invasive (tot. three spp.) bivalves in eight northern European waterbodies, which harboured totally 15 parasite taxa. In paired comparisons using within-site averages, the mean number of parasite species in the native bivalves was 2.3 times higher, and the sum of parasite prevalences 2.4 times higher, than in the invasive bivalves. This may lead to enemy-mediated competitive release of invaders and contribute to the success of invasive freshwater bivalves, in general. However, while the invasive clam Corbicula fluminea was completely free from parasites, parasite parameters of the other invader, Sinanodonta woodiana, were relatively high, indicating that the role of parasites can be invader-specific and urges further research. Understanding the factors affecting success of freshwater bivalve invasions, such as parasitism, can aid invasion

The aim of this study was to examine the thermal denaturation properties of proteins from fresh and frozen pond mussels Anodonta woodiana by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The A. woodiana (Lea, 1834) mussels were collected from the bottom of a lake located in West Poland. Three parts of the mussel: adductor muscle (AM), foot muscle (FO) and part of internal organs (IO), were taken for analysis. The DSC technique was used to characterize the stability of the protein system, and SDS-PAGE was applied for the separation and identification of proteins. Thermal analysis in all parts of the mussel revealed two main endothermic transitions: the first at 60-61°C and the second at 69-70°C. Denaturation transition occurred in the temperature range from 42 to 76°C. The highest enthalpy of denaturation was observed for FO and was 15.75 J g -1 (per 1 g of protein) and 14.01 J g -1 for AM. The lower-temperature peak, related to myosin and paramyosin, accounted for approximately 70-80 % of the total area of transition. Electrophoretic analysis (SDS-PAGE) confirmed that the paramyosin, with a mass of approx. 98-107 kDa, constituted the largest percentage, i.e., 24 % in AM and 17 % in IO and FO. Two other main myofibrillar proteins were also present in significant amounts: myosin with a molecular mass of 230-245 kDa (12-14 %) and actin with a mass of 47 kDa (18-20 %). In this study, the effect of freezing on protein stability was also investigated. The results of DSC analyses revealed that the process of freezing did not have a significant influence on the first and second peak temperature. Significant differences in enthalpy between fresh and frozen samples were observed only for AM, for which the total enthalpy (DH) decreased by 33 %. This study provided insight into the biochemistry of A. woodiana meat and offers an area of scientific novelty. Recognizing quality properties of meat tissue from freshwater Chinese pond mussels collected from selected water ecosystems seems to be important with respect to the potential possibility of using it for feed, pet food or even in food products.