I don't know about an ecological importance of freshwater mussels, but I have witnessed how instrumental they were in recovering of a popular SCUBA diving spot in PA, USA, called Dutch Springs. It is an old, abandoned quarry filled up by fresh water naturally. The water was getting more and more cloudy every year until the visibility was practically 0. Then the management introduced freshwater mussels one late fall as the quarry closed for the winter. By next spring when the quarry opened again for visitors, the water was clear with the visibility in tens of meters. Pretty much everything underwater was covered with a mat of mussels, but nobody cared. There suddenly was a lot of light and colors, fish, seaweed, rocks, wrecks, etc.