Hello from the LIFE Revives team of the University of Tartu, Estonia!
As geologists dedicated to freshwater pearl mussel (FPM) conservation, we are studying Estonia鈥檚 only FPM river, River Pudisoo. Our mission is to understand why the FPM population is not doing so well, pinpointing the areas of concern.
In our toolbox we have some fantastic new techniques and methods: some drone surveys have shown us where the groundwater seeps into the river (Figure 1), and on-site automatic measurement stations transmit real-time data (Figure 2).
Among several physical parameters, the stations measure the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water. There was a one case we noticed that the meters were reporting 0 % oxygen in the water. It seemed very strange! More accurate investigation led us to a beaver dam that held back the river鈥檚 flow, making the water stagnant and thus depleted of oxygen (Figure 3). This is one example on how our methods of studying and monitoring the river play a vital role in understanding its rhythms and dynamics.
To be able to observe, what actually goes on around our project sites in River Pudisoo, our team member Marko set up a trail camera close to one of the automated measurement stations. To our surprise, we saw quite a few photobombs by the local fauna (Figure 4)!
