Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units (CESU)

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service intends to issue a Single Source Cooperative Agreement Award to Middle Tennessee State University for efforts to cooperatively characterize and evaluate aquatic microbial communities, focusing on potential undescribed pathogens of interest. This project aims to establish a partnership between the Service's Southwestern Virginia Field Office and MTSU to work cooperatively on the collection and evaluation of microbiome samples from Copper Creek. The goal is to understand the declines in multiple fish and freshwater mussel species in the Upper Tennessee River Basin. Key aspects of the project include: • Characterizing potential microbial pathogens in aquatic microbial communities • Evaluating microbiome samples from Copper Creek • Establishing a partnership between the Service's Southwestern Virginia Field Office and MTSU • Focusing on the conservation of federally listed endangered and threatened species of fish and mussels • Understanding the declines in multiple fish and freshwater mussel species in the Upper Tennessee River Basin