FWS Scholar: Gary Pandolfi
Gary Pandolfi grew up in the small, rural town of Burnsville, North Carolina nestled in the beautiful Appalachian Mountains near the Tennessee border. Like most biologists, Gary grew up outdoors either fishing, hunting, camping, hiking or just generally getting covered in mud and dirt. His love for the outdoors skyrocketed once his grandfather “papaw” started taking him to the Pisgah National Forest where they would spend cool autumn nights camping and fishing which eventually turned into hunting trips once Gary got older.
Gary has a Bachelor and Master’s Degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Appalachian State University as well as a Minor in Geology. During his collegiate career, Gary stumbled into the field of aquatic biology focusing mostly of threatened and endangered mussels, freshwater fish, crayfish and salamanders. He spent his graduate years figuratively chasing mussels across the Southeast U.S. and developing contacts and partners at state and federal agencies. His career with the USFWS started in 2015 when he participated in the Directorate Fellowship Program in the Asheville NC Ecological Services Field Office. Gary’s DFP project focused on updating basin wide surveys for Appalachian elktoe (Alasmidonta raveneliana) a federally endangered mussel, that coincidentally lived in the same streams and creeks he grew up playing in as a child.
Currently, the Appalachian elktoe has a very fragmented distribution. The species still survives in scattered pockets of suitable habitat in portions of four river systems — the Little Tennessee, Pigeon, French Broad, and Nolichucky. Poor water quality and habitat conditions, agriculture, forestry and road operations can all contribute to soil erosion and water runoff where silt, pesticides, fertilizers, heavy metals, and other pollutants enter the waters, suffocate and poison freshwater mussels. To learn more, please read Gary’s published research entitled, Riparian land-use and in-stream habitat predict the distribution of a critically endangered freshwater mussel.
After completing his DFP project, Gary found a permanent position with the USFWS in the Austin Ecological Services Field Office as a Freshwater Mussel Biologist, also known as a Malacologist, in 2016. For five years, Gary’s main job duties were drafting and writing Species Status Assessments for about a dozen freshwater mussels endemic only to Texas. These species, along with the iconic cowboy boots and Texas BBQ, are unique to the state and found nowhere else on Earth. In addition to the mussels, he was also the lead biologist for 6 listed fishes that are endemic to Texas. Many of these were pupfishes that live in spring pools in the desert of arid West Texas. Gary recently published research entitled, Influences of in-stream habitat and upstream land-use on site occupancy of the Kanawha darter (Etheostoma kanawhae): A narrowly distributed species from the New River (Upper Kanawha Basin) which focuses primarily on the effects of legacy land use change on stream bed habitat and the occurrence of an at-risk fish species in North Carolina.
“I am a firm believer that acknowledging our success is key to keeping moral high and continuing the great work we do,” Gary shares.
Freshwater mussels in particular, as well as many other aquatic organisms aren’t the charismatic Grizzly bears of the west or the beautiful Monarch butterflies floating over a field of milkweed. However, these aquatic species play an extremely important role in our ecosystems. They are the proverbial “canary in the coal mine” alerting us of dangerous changes to our rivers and streams that may otherwise go unnoticed. Gary likes to call mussels the “Livers of the Rivers” because they are silently filter feeding and cleaning up the rivers we all love to swim, fish, and boat in. They mainly eat phytoplankton, zooplankton, and bacteria suspended in the water. By drawing water inside their shells through a siphon, their gills filter out food and take in oxygen. He’s finds working on these systems and organisms particularly interesting because only a few people know about them, or let alone ever see them alive. Gary is able to advocate for these rare species as well as educate others about their importance. Ways to help these imperiled species include establishing and maintaining forested stream-side buffers and riparian habitat, implement and maintain measures for erosion control, as well as participating in the protection and restoration of our wild lands and ecosystems.
Gary recently accepted a new position in the Southwest Regional Office working in the Branch of Recovery and Restoration. While Gary isn’t in the field as much now, he gets to work on a much wider variety of species across the Southwest U.S. as a Project Manager for recovering species listed under the Endangered Species Act. Gary is settling well into his new role, and is very excited to use his new role to have an even wider impact on conservation across the Southwest.
To learn more about Gary Pandolfi’s research on endemic freshwater species and freshwater mussels, check out two of his recently published papers, Riparian land-use and in-stream habitat predict the distribution of a critically endangered freshwater mussel, and Influences of in-stream habitat and upstream land-use on site occupancy of the Kanawha darter: A narrowly distributed species from the New River; discoverable via USFWS Conservation Library. For more information about freshwater mussels and their role in the ecosystem, read about various species in Texas. #FWSscholar is brought to you by the USFWS Conservation Library, #WeAreUSFWS.
