James B. Sickel, Ph.D.

Department of Biological Sciences
Murray State University
Murray, KY 42071

 
e-mail :  jim.sickel@murraystate.edu
Image Files:
    Zebra mussel veliger (.jpg) 

VIDEOS:  If videos do not play but you see a still image, click on image to play.  If you get no image and receive an error message indicating no driver, you may need to update your Windows Media Player by downloading and running the file <iv5play.exe> from the Intel site http://www.intel.com/ial/indeo/video/driver.htm.
    Video files are approximately 1 MB in size.  If your have a 28.8 modem, it may take 5 - 10 minutes to download.

     Zebra mussel veliger (.avi) (1M avi) 6 day veliger reared in Tennessee River water and feeding on Chlorella minutissima.
     Paramecium  (1.2M avi) pulsating contractile vacuoles, phase contrast.
     Texas Liliput (1 M avi) lure behavior of Toxolasma texasensis video captured by John Schwegman.
     Paramecium caudatum (jpg) image shows macro and micronucleus


 
PROFESSIONAL VITA
I. Name: James B. Sickel
II. Education:   Ph.D. Biology, Emory University, 1976
                          M.S. Biology, Emory University, 1969
                          B.S. Applied Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology, 1967
III. Experience/Training Specifically Related to this Proposed Research Project: Both M.S. thesis and Ph.D. dissertation involved research on freshwater mollusks. Since coming to Murray State in 1975, most of my research has been directed toward the ecology and systematics of freshwater mollusks. I have attended 3 workshops on mussels sponsored by the Army Corps of Engineers, a larval mussel workshop sponsored by the Tennessee Valley Authority, and a week long course on marine invertebrate culture techniques at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Two of my master's degree students completed their theses on mollusks of Kentucky Lake and streams of Land Between the Lakes. I maintain the mollusk museum collection in the Department of Biological Sciences here at Murray State which serves as a reference collection for this region.
IV. Memberships and Involvement in Professional Societies: American Association for the Advancement of Science; Association of Southeastern Biologists; American Malacological Union; Kentucky Academy of Sciences; North American Benthological Society; Sigma Xi
V. Major Research and Professional Interests: Molluscan ecology and systematics; Limnology
VI. Publications:
Sickel, J.B.  1998.  Gluttonous feeding behavior in the Rhabdocoel, Macrostomum sp., induced by juveniles of the Asiatic clam, Corbicula fluminea.  Journal of Freshwater Ecology 13(1): 135-137.
Reed, D.P., J.J. Herod, and J.B. Sickel. 1998. Variations in zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) veliger densities throughout 1996 at Dam 52 on the lower Ohio River.  Journal of Freshwater Ecology 13(3): 255-261. 
Sickel, J.B., J.J. Herod, and H.N. Blalock. 1997. Potential for the Kentucky Dam tail water of the Tennessee River to serve as a mussel refuge from invading zebra mussels. Pages 214-219 in K.S. Cummings, A.C. Buchanan, C.A. Mayer, and T.J. Naimo, eds. Conservation and management of freshwater mussels II: initiatives for the future. Proceedings of a UMRCC symposium, 16-18 October 1995, St. Louis, Missouri. Upper Mississippi River Conservation Committee, Rock Island, Illinois. 
Herod, J.J., T.L. Frye, and J.B. Sickel.  1997.  Blue catfish predation on the zebra mussel in the Ohio River near Paducah, Kentucky.  Trans. Ky. Acad. Sci. 58(2): 96.
Herod, J.J., D.P. Reed, and J.B. Sickel.  1997.  Distribution and population characteristics of zebra mussels, Dreissena polymorpha, (Bivalvia: Dreissenidae) in Kentucky Lake, Kentucky.  Pages 74-84 in Scott, A.F., S.W. Hamilton, E.W. Chester, and D.S. White (eds.),  Proceedings of the Seventh Symposium on the Natural History of Lower Tennessee and Cumberland River Valleys.  The Center for Field Biology, Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, Tennessee.
Reed, D.P., J.J. Herod, and J.B. Sickel. 1997.  A comparison of larval development in the zebra mussels, Dreissena polymorpha, (Bivalvia: Dreissenidae) up to the free-swimming trochophore stage in Tennessee and Ohio River water.  Pages 85-98  in Scott, A.F., S.W. Hamilton, E.W. Chester, and D.S. White (eds.),  Proceedings of the Seventh Symposium on the Natural History of Lower Tennessee and Cumberland River Valleys.  The Center for Field Biology, Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, Tennessee.
Brinkley, K., J.B. Sickel, L. Duobinis-Gray, and J.J. Herod.  1997.  Histological analysis of gonad development in zebra mussels (Bivalvia: Dreissenidae) from the Tennessee and Ohio Rivers.  Pages 67-84  in Scott, A.F., S.W. Hamilton, E.W. Chester, and D.S. White (eds.),  Proceedings of the Seventh Symposium on the Natural History of Lower Tennessee and Cumberland River Valleys.  The Center for Field Biology, Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, Tennessee.
Blalock, H.N. and J.B. Sickel. 1996. Changes in mussel (Bivalvia: Unionidae) fauna within the Kentucky portion of Lake Barkley since impoundment of the lower Cumberland River. Amer. Malacol. Bull. 13:111-116.
Sickel, J.B. and C.C. Chandler. 1996. Unionid fauna of the lower Cumberland River from Barkley Dam to the Ohio River, Kentucky (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Unionidae). Trans. Ky. Acad. Sci. 57:33-46.
Berg, D.J., W.R. Haag, S.I. Guttman, and J.B. Sickel. 1995. Mantle biopsy: a technique for nondestructive tissue-sampling of freshwater mussels. J. N. Amer. Benthological Soc. 14(4):577-581
Blalock, H.N. And J.B. Sickel. 1995. Freshwater mussel fauna of the lower Cumberland River, Kentucky. Presentation at Sixth Symposium on the Natural History of Lower Tennessee and Cumberland River Valleys, sponsored by Austin Peay State University, Murray State University and Land Between the Lakes. March 4, 1995.
Leek, D.A. and J.B. Sickel. 1995. Comparison of zebra mussel growth in Tennessee and Ohio River water and in Tennessee River water with elevated calcium. Presentation at Sixth Symposium on the Natural History of Lower Tennessee and Cumberland River Valleys, sponsored by Austin Peay State University, Murray State University and Land Between the Lakes. March 4, 1995.
Leek, Denise A. and James B. Sickel. 1994. Growth of zebra mussels in Tennessee River water with and without added calcium. Abstract: Bulletin North American Benthological Society 11(1):192.
Sickel, James B. and Denise A. Leek. 1994. Observations on zebra mussel colonization in the lower Ohio and Tennessee Rivers. 4th International Zebra Mussel Conference '94 Proceedings. University of Wisconsin, Sea Grant Institute, Madison, Wisconsin. Pp. 447-455.
Leek, D.A. and J.B. Sickel. 1994. Growth of Zebra Mussels in Tennessee River water with and without added calcium. Presentation at the Annual Meeting, North American Benthological Society.
Duobinis-Gray, L. F., E. A. Urban, J. B. Sickel, D. A. Owen and W. E. Maddox. 1991. Aspidogastrid (Trematoda) parasites of Unionid (Bivalvia) molluscs in Kentucky Lake. J. Helminthological Soc. of Washington. 58(2):167-170.
Maddox, W. E., L. Duobinis-Gray, D. A. Owen and J. B. Sickel. 1990. X-ray fluorescence analysis of trace metals in the annual growth layers of freshwater mussel shells. Advances in X-Ray Analysis 33:665-670.
Blair, L.T. and J.B. Sickel. 1987. A survey of freshwater gastropods in selected habitats of Land Between the Lakes, Kentucky and Tennessee. Trans. Ky. Acad. Sci., 47:6-12.
Sickel, J.B. 1986. Corbicula population mortalities: agents of population control. Amer. Malacological Union Bull. Spec. Ed. 2: 89-94.
Mussalli, Y.G., I.A. Diaz-Tous, and J.B. Sickel. 1986. Asiatic clam control by mechanical straining and organotin toxicants. Amer. Malacological Union Bull. Spec. Ed. 2:83-88.
Pharris, G.L., J.B. Sickel, and C.C. Chandler. 1984. Range extension of Plectomerus dombeyanus (Valenciennes, 1827) into the Tennessee River, Kentucky. The Nautilus, 98(2):74-77.
Sickel, J.B. and M.B. Lyles. 1981. Chaetogaster limnaei (Oligochaeta: Naididae) inhabiting the mantle cavity of the Asiatic clam, Corbicula fluminea, in Barkley Lake, Kentucky. The Veliger, 23(4):361-362.
Branson, B.A., J.B. Sickel, and B.M. Bauer. 1983. Notes on rare and endangered or threatened pleurocerid snails from the Cumberland River, Kentucky. The Nautilus, 97:58-60.
Sickel, J.B. and M.W. Heyn. 1980. Decline of the Asiatic clam, Corbicula fluminea, in the lower Tennessee River. Amer. Malacological Union Bull. 1980:24-26.
Sickel, J.B. 1980. Correlation of unionid mussels with bottom sediment composition in the Altamaha River, Georgia. Amer. Malacological Union Bull. 1980:10-13.
Sickel, J.B. 1979. Population dynamics of Corbicula in the Altamaha River, Georgia. Proc. First International Corbicula Symposium, Texas Christian University Research Foundation, Fort Worth, Texas. Pp. 69-80.
Sickel, J.B. 1979. Reevaluation of the Asiatic clam population in the Altamaha River, Georgia. ASB Bulletin 26(2):87.
Sickel, J.B. and S.A. Smallmon. 1978. Thermal and oxygen effects on the heart rate of the Asiatic clam, Corbicula manilensis. ASB Bulletin 25(2):47.
Sickel, J. B. 1976. Population growth and productivity of Corbicula manilensis (Philippi) in the Altamaha River, Georgia (Bivalvia: Corbiculidae). ASB Bulletin 23(2):96.
Sickel, J.B. and W.D. Burbanck. 1974. Bottom substratum preference of Corbicula manilensis in the Altamaha River, Georgia (Pelecypoda). ASB Bulletin 21(2):84.

VII.  Recent Presentations and Other Professional Activities:
Sickel, J.B. 1998.  Moderated Mussel Ecology and Management session of the Southern Division of the American Fisheries Society 1998 Midyear Meeting, Lexington, KY, February 27-March 1, 1998.
Sickel, J.B., J.J. Herod, and D.P. Reed. 1998.  Impact of zebra mussels and commercial mussel harvest on native unionid mussels in Western Kentucky.  Presentation at the Southern Division of the American Fisheries Society 1998 Midyear Meeting, Lexington, KY, February 27 - March 1, 1998.
Reed, D.P., J.J. Herod, and J.B. Sickel. 1998.  Annual variations in zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) veliger densities throughout 1996 at Dam 52 on the lower Ohio River.  Presentation at the Southern Division of the American Fisheries Society 1998 Midyear Meeting, Lexington, KY, February 27 - March 1, 1998.
Brinkley, K.A., J.B. Sickel, and L. Duobinis-Gray.  1998.  Gonad development in zebra mussels (Bivalvia: Dreissenidae) from the Tennessee and Ohio Rivers.  Presentation at the Southern Division of the American Fisheries Society 1998 Midyear Meeting, Lexington, KY, February 27-March 1, 1998.
Neale, J.R., B.G. Loganathan, J. Ratliff, J. Sickel, and D.A. Owen.  1998.  Organochlorine and trace elemental concentrations in sediment and mussel tissues from the lower Tennessee River and Kentucky Lake.  Poster presentation.