Biomineralization plasticity and environmental heterogeneity predict geographical resilience patterns of foundation species to future change. ...

• Main Authors: Telesca, Luca, Peck, Lloyd S, Sanders, Trystan, Thyrring, Jakob, Sejr, Mikael K, Harper, Elizabeth M
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2019
• Subjects: Mytilus; biomineralization; calcification; climate change; compensatory mechanisms; multiple stressors; ocean acidification; resistance; Animal Shells; Animals; Biomineralization; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; Mytilus edulis; Seawater; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17863/cam.44920; https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/297863

Although geographical patterns of species' sensitivity to environmental changes are defined by interacting multiple stressors, little is known about compensatory processes shaping regional differences in organismal vulnerability. Here, we examine large-scale spatial variations in biomineralization under heterogeneous environmental gradients of temperature, salinity and food availability across a 30° latitudinal range (3,334 km), to test whether plasticity in calcareous shell production and composition, from juveniles to large adults, mediates geographical patterns of resilience to climate change in critical foundation species, the mussels Mytilus edulis and M. trossulus. We find shell calcification decreased towards high latitude, with mussels producing thinner shells with a higher organic content in polar than temperate regions. Salinity was the best predictor of within-region differences in mussel shell deposition, mineral and organic composition. In polar, subpolar, and Baltic low-salinity environments, ...