I am interested in systematics, conservation and evolution of invertebrates. Systematists are interested in discovering, describing and classifying the world's species. Such information is often critical for issues related to human health, medicines, agriculture and biological control, forestry, fisheries, conservation, and for our own edification. My students, collaborators, and I have been focusing a great deal of attention on freshwater mollusks, particularly unionid bivalves and pleurocerid gastropods and more recently terrestrial gastropods.
Selected publications
Lydeard, C., R. H. Cowie, W. F. Ponder, A. E. Bogan, P. Bouchet, S. A. Clark, K. S. Cummings, T. J. Frest, O. Gargominy, D. G. Herbert, R. Hershler, K. Perez, B. Roth, M. Seddon, E. E. Strong, and F. G. Thompson. 2004. The global decline of non-marine mollusks. BioScience 54:321-330.
Lydeard, C., and D. R. Lindberg, (eds.). 2003. Molecular systematics and phylogeography of mollusks. Smithsonian Books.
Serb, J. M., and C. Lydeard. 2003. Complete mtDNA sequence of the North American freshwater mussel, Lampsilis ornata (Unionidae): an examination of the evolution and phylogenetic utility of mitochondrial genome organization in Bivalvia (Mollusca). Molecular Biology and Evolution 20:1854-1866.
Lydeard, C., and D. R. Lindberg. 2003. Challenges and research opportunities in molluscan molecular phylogenetics. Pages 1-13 In: Molecular Systematics and Phylogeography of Mollusks, Lydeard, C. and D. R. Lindberg (eds.), Smithsonian Books, Washington, DC.
Serb, J. M., J. E. Buhay, and C. Lydeard. 2003. Molecular systematics
of the North American freshwater bivalve genus Quadrula (Unionidae: Ambleminae).
Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 28:1-11.
Minton, R. L., J. Garner, and C. Lydeard. 2003. Rediscovery, systematic position, and redescription of "Leptoxis" melanoides (Conrad, 1834)(Gastropoda: Pleuroceridae) of the Black Warrior River, Alabama, U.S.A. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 116:531-541.
Lydeard, C., W. E. Holznagel, M. Glaubrecht, and W. F. Ponder. 2002. Molecular phylogeny and evidence for multiple origins of freshwater gastropods of the circum-global, diverse superfamily Cerithioidea (Mollusca: Caenogastropoda). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 22:399-406.
Lydeard, C., W. E. Holznagel, R. Ueshima, and A. Kurabayashi. 2002. Systematic implications of extreme loss or reduction of mitochondrial LSU rRNA helical-loop structures in gastropods. Malacologia 44:349-352.