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Acknowledgments Preparation of this document during the past five years has required the support and assistance from individuals, universities, museum institutions, and federal and state agencies. We would like to express our appreciation to those individuals who have contributed to the completion of this project. We sincerely apologize if we have inadvertently omitted someone from these acknowledgments. First, we would like to acknowledge the superb assistance and support of Sherry Bostick. She played a key role in managing all aspects of the preparation of the manuscript , including entering data, editing text, and formatting layout. She also scanned, edited , and arranged all photographs and illustrations included herein. Some of these tasks were major challenges, but she always rose to the occasion and did so with patience and good humor. It is difficult to express in words our appreciation to Sherry for her efforts and support to see this book come to fruition. Funding Funding for the Florida mussel book project was provided by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, State Wildlife Legacy Program, through a State Wildlife Grant. The grant was administered by Brian Branciforte, Laura Morris, and Stacey Whichel. Additional administrative support was provided by Lisa Clancy, Thomas Eason, Jim Estes, and Dick Krause. Publication of the Florida mussel book was supported by funding from Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission; Florida Department of Environmental Protection; Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville ; Jacksonville Shell Club, Florida; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 4 Office, Atlanta, Georgia; and U.S. Geological Survey, Southeast Ecological Science Center, Gainesville, Florida. text Review We extend our utmost appreciation and gratitude to an outstanding group of outside reviewers. Drafts of chapters were provided to reviewers often with a request for a short turnaround time. We greatly appreciate reviews by the following individuals: Steve Ahlstedt , Art Bogan, Mike Gangloff, Jeff Garner, Wendell Haag, John Harris, Bill Heard, Jess Jones, Harry Lee, John Pfeiffer, Roger Portell, Sandy Pursifull, Matt Rowe, and Nancy White. Museum Support We are grateful to the museum curators, collection managers, and other staff for assistance during the collection of mussel distribution data. They were helpful and provided open access to mussel collections, catalogue data, lab equipment, and archival photographs. They were always patient and accommodating to us during our visits and responded to requests for loan of specimens. We express our sincere gratitude to the following institutions and individuals: Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia—Paul Callomon, Judy Goldberg, and Amanda Lawless; Auburn University Museum—Mike Gangloff and Brian Helms; Carnegie Museum of Natural History—Tim Pearce and Acknowledgments xii John Rawlins; Cincinnati Museum of Natural History—Francisco Borrero; Field Museum of Natural History—Jochen Gerber; Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida—Kurt Auffenberg, Amanda Bemis, Gustav Paulay, Roger Portell , Griffin Sheehy, John Slapcinsky, and Fred Thompson; Illinois Natural History Survey—Kevin Cummings and Christine Mayer; Mississippi Museum of Natural Science—Bob Jones; Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University—Adam Baldinger, Ken Boss, Samantha Edelheit, and Richard Johnson; North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences—Art Bogan and Jamie Smith; Ohio State University Museum of Biological Diversity—David Stansbery and Tom Watters; U.S. National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution—Paul Greenhall, Robert Hershler, and Tyjuana Nickens; University of Michigan Museum of Zoology—Liath Appleton, Jack Burch, Taehwan Lee, and Diarmaid O’Foighil; McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture, Paul W. Parmalee Malacology Collection, University of Tennessee—Gerry Dinkins. Field Assistance Since our arrival in Florida in the late 1980s, we began having discussions of someday writing a state mussel book. During the past 25 years, we had assistance in the field and received mussels and collection data from a number of individuals. The efforts of the following individuals contributed greatly to our understanding of distribution and conservation status of mussels in Florida: Steve Ahlstedt, Herb Athearn (deceased), Jamie Barichivich, Jennifer Bernatis, Holly Blalock-Herod, Marc Blouin, Sherry Bostick, Jayne Brim Box, Mary Brown, Michael Buntin, Matt Burgess, Noel Burkhead, Stuart Butler (deceased), Matt Callahan, Ron Cicerello, Andre Daniels, Gerry Dinkins, Todd Fobian, Ben Forest, Butch Forrer, Ann Foster, Dick Franz, Paul Freeman, Pam Fuller, Sam Fuller (deceased), Mike Gangloff, Jeff Garner, Andy Gerberich , Jim Godwin, Steve Golladay, Margaret Gunzburger, Wendell Haag, Hannah Hamilton, Byron Hamstead, Dennis Haney, Kate Harriger, Bill Heard, Jeff Herod, Karen Herrington, Amy Hester, Gary Hill, Mike Hill, Randy Hoeh, Ted Hoehn, Tim Hogan, Steve Howard, Mark Hughes, Colette Jacono, Howard Jelks, John Johansen, Dan Johnson, Paul Johnson, Bob...

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