Why It’s Important:

            Environmental change is a complex process and developing a monitoring method that can detect multiple impacts is necessary. Pollution from wastewater, heavy metals and oil are a concern, along with changes in nutrient levels, ocean acidification and water temperature. Evaluating different aspects of bay mussel health provides us with information about each of the environmental changes we are concerned about. The mussel experiments are a cost-effective, sensitive way to study coastal water quality.