Jackson County, Alabama

Note: This information is provided for reference purposes only. Although the information provided here was accurate and current when first created, it is now outdated.

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Pesticide Table for the Green Pitcher Plant | Pesticide Table for the Snail Darter
Pesticide Table for the Alabama Cave Shrimp | Pesticide Table for Freshwater Mollusks
About the Green Pitcher Plant | About the Snail Darter
About the Alabama Cave Shrimp | About Freshwater Mollusks
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The Alabama cave shrimp is a small, nearly transparent crustacean with reduced eyes. Lack of pigmentation indicates that it has survived underground in the absence of light for perhaps thousands of years. The cave shrimp is a nonselective grazer, feeding on protozoans, tiny insects, fungae and algae that have entered the cave in groundwater. It is believed to have a low reproductive potential as females produce only 6 to 12 eggs after breeding.

A search of over 200 caves in northern Alabama located the shrimp in only two locations in Madison County, Alabama, in the Shelta and Bobcat caves of the Huntsville Spring Branch and Indian Creek drainages. The size of caveshrimp populations have declined significantly in recent years, and many researchers fear that it may already have been eliminated from Shelta Cave. The size of the shrimp population in Bobcat Cave has not been estimated, but is considered to be very low because of small cave habitats.

Residential and commercial development has disrupted the ecological balance of the underground water supply by introducing contaminants and by diverting water from the aquifer. Increased groundwater pumping could further reduce the water table, causing the caves to dry. The Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the Army division that administers Bobcat Cave of the Redstone Arsenal, are working to develop a habitat management plan to protect Bobcat Cave against potentially damaging groundwater contamination. The FWS is also working with the National Speleological Society to develop a protection plan for recreational spelunkers who use Shelta Cave.

Mosely, C.J. (ed.), The Official World Wildlife Fund Guide to Endangered Species, Beacham Publishing Inc, Washington, DC. Vol. II, pp. 1031-2.

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Freshwater mollusks found in this area are one or more of the following: the Alabama lamp pearly mussel, the pale lilliput pearly mussel, the pink mucket pearly mussel, the fine-rayed pigtoe, and the shiny pigtoe mussel. These mussels are in the family Unionidae, a family restricted to North America. A far larger percentage of this family are imperiled than any other taxonomic (species) group.

Freshwater mussels can live up to 50 years. In the parasitic larval stage of the mollusk lifecycle it is dependant on fish within its habitat for nutrients and mobility. However, only a few host fish are known. Mature mussels bury themselves in the riffles and shoals and feed by siphoning phytoplankton and other plant matter from the water. Reverse siphoning is used to expell undigestible particles from the shell. Silt in the water can kill mussels by clogging their feeding siphons.

Major factors affecting mussel populations are alterations in temperature, waterflow, and siltation caused by stream damming and channeling. Agricultural runoffs and industrial practices have also affected the mussel habitat by degrading water quality and causing siltation. Because mussels are filter feeders, the effects of pollution are intensified due to the large quantities of water drawn through their siphons in the feeding process. Another significant threat to this species is the widespread and rapid population growth of the introduced zebra mussel. The zebra mussel not only competes with native species, but also attatches to them, adding so much weight that the native species cannot open to feed. In the past, commerial harvests contributed to the decline of freshwater mussels but this industry has since been reduced.

Matthews, J.R. (ed.), The Official World Wildlife Fund Guide to Endangered Species, Beacham Publishing Inc, Washington, DC. Vol II, pp. 955-956.

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The green pitcher plant is a perennial herb growing from moderately branched rhizome 8-30 inches tall. The plant is wider at the top than at the base. It has green to yellow-green, funnel shaped leaves that appear with the flower buds in early April, and mature with yellow flowers during late April and May. The leaves wither by late summer and are replaced with flat leaves that persist until the following season. This insectivorous plant gains its nutrients by consuming insects that are trapped by bristles inside the leaves.

Green pitcher plant is found in diverse habitats with highly acidic and organic soils such as seepage bogs, areas that are wetlands for at least part of the growing season, and in sandstone or shale soils along flat to moderately sloping stream banks or woodland sites with much winter moisture.

Formerly the green pitcher plant grew in five geological provinces, but is now known from only three: Cumberland Plateau, Blue Ridge, and Ridge and Valley. These provinces are contained in Alabama (Cherokee, DeKalb, Etowah, Jackson, and Marshall counties); and Georgia (Towns County). Most of the 26 pitcher plant colonies occur in the Cumberland Plateau region of northeastern Alabama. Recovery of this species depends on maintaining adequate water tables by preventing the drainage or filling of surrounding wetlands, preventing herbicide and fertilizer run-off from adjacent agricultural areas, and halting the succession of woodlands that overtake pitcher plant habitat.

Matthews, J.R. (ed.), The Official World Wildlife Fund Guide to Endangered Species, Beacham Publishing Inc, Washington, DC. Vol I, pp. 351-352.

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The snail darter fish is a small, robust fish about 3.4 inches in length. The body is brown with green and white marks above and below four, dark brown patches on its back. The upper portion of the head is dark brown and its cheeks are mottled brown and yellow. The snail dartar lives up to five or six years, feeding primarily on aquatic snails in moderately flowing, vegetated streams with sandy bottoms and wide shoals for spawning.

The snail darter was first collected in 1973 in the lower reaches of the Little Tennessee River, an area that was eventually altered by completion of the Tellico Dam. According to the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), it is difficult to determine the range of the snail darter before the construction of the dam but was probally confined to the upper portions of the Tennessee River, and the lower portions of the Hiwassee, Clinch, Little Tennessee, French Broad and Holston rivers. Current populations of this fish are found in the main channel of the Tennessee River and in six of its tributaries in Hamilton, Loudon, Marion, Meigs and Polk counties in Tennessee, and in Jackson and Madison counties in Alabama.

Unknown to anyone before 1973, the snail darter became the focus of a major political controversy when its existance halted the completion of the Tennesse Valley Authority's Tellico Dam on the Little Tennessee River because it was designated as critical habitat for this fish. Since then, other populations have been discovered and efforts to transplant the darter has led the snail darter to be downlisted to Threatened. If substantial new populations are discovered or current populations increase over a ten-year period, the FWS will consider removing the darter from the Federal Endangered Species list.

Matthews, J.R. (ed.), The Official World Wildlife Fund Guide to Endangered Species, Beacham Publishing Inc, Washington, DC. Vol II, pp. 921-923.

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