Primary scope:

COREO Region (if known):
SEEON - Southeast Ecological Observatory

Owner of the site:
University of Alabama

Primary collection type:
Taxonomic

Description:
The University of Alabama Mollusk Collection is one of the newest collections at the university. Since the 1980's, the collection has been amassed due to the collecting efforts of professors and graduate students alike. Additional specimens have been obtained through donations from other academic and private sources. The collection is comprised of two smaller collections: the unionid shell and frozen tissue collection, and the freshwater and marine gastropod collection. The unionid collection contains over 2,000 individual freshwater unionid mussels, with the majority of specimens taken from the southeastern United States. Additional North American, South American, European, and Australian unionid taxa are also represented. Each mussel is identified, cataloged, and stored in ethanol. Prior to ethanol preservation, small pieces of mantle and/or foot tissue are taken from each mussel and placed in ultralow frozen storage. This dual cataloging of specimens is necessary given the short life span of biomolecules in storage. Nucleic acids begin to degrade in ethanol preserved specimens after three years, while nucleic acids in frozen tissue remain intact longer before degrading. The frozen tissue repository thus allows for the examination of older specimens in the collection. The gastropod collection contains over 600 lots of frozen and alcohol preserved specimens, focusing mainly on freshwater pleurocerids of the southeastern United States. Other taxa well represented include Campeloma of the southeast, cerithioidean snails worldwide, and Pachychilus from Mexico. In 1998, a serious cataloging effort began and with it, the formal organization of a gastropod collection. Currently, both collections are being cataloged in File Maker Pro databases. In the near future, these will be accessible and searchable via the internet.

Contact name:
Amelia K. Ward

Contact title:
Director, Center for Freshwater Studies

Contact email:
award@biology.as.ua.edu

Contact phone number:
205 348 1796

Contributor name:
Charles Lydeard

Contributor relationship to location:
Faculty curator

Contributor email:
clydeard@biology.as.ua.edu

Contributor phone number:
205 348 1792