63 part of the ecosystem, they are essential food sources for some fish and mammals in the river, also maintaining the food chain balance as a result.14 In essence, mussels’ crucial role in the Fox River ecosystem with its place in the food chain and its ability to filter the water can help rebuild the condition of the river through natural means and maintain a healthy condition for the river. However, due to decades of human activity such as overharvesting through industry with pearl buttons and pearls, destroying the habitat through dam building, urbanization, and pollution, the condition of the Fox River plummeted into inhabitable conditions for mussels to survive in, causing the mussel population of the river to decline significantly. To restore the health and water quality of the Fox River, the communities surrounding it must take action to undo the damage done throughout the 1900s to the ecosystem of the Fox River by cleaning up and preventing pollution, living sustainably by conserving water, conducting mussel surveys (regarding the abundance of their species), and doing other community-wide conservation efforts to increase the native mussel population as well as improve the Fox River ecosystem. 14 Isabella Newingham, “Hidden within the Substrate.”
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy Mjg3OTMy