Temporal comparison of mussel (Mytilus californianus) shell thickness determined from shells collected from six study sites along the west coast of North America from 2000 to 2019 ...

• Main Authors: Longman, Emily, Sanford, Eric
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO) 2023
• Subjects: Mytilus californianus; selection mosaic; adaptive landscape; Predator-prey interaction; Pacific; Ocean acidification; Dogwhelk
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.26008/1912/bco-dmo.908647.1; https://hdl.handle.net/1912/66997

Climate change, specifically ocean acidification, is impacting calcification of marine organisms. A reduction in pH has been shown to affect mussel growth and shell thickness along the Pacific coast of North America. Mussels, Mytilus californianus, are a foundation species in rocky shore ecosystems and are prey for a number of taxa, including the Channeled Dogwhelk, Nucella canaliculata, which feeds by drilling a hole through the shell of their prey. Previous research has documented geographic variation in N. canaliculata predator drilling phenotype on Mytilus californianus. However, few studies have assessed how variation in mussel shell traits shape the evolution of this co-evolving predator. Thus, we analyzed M. californianus shell thickness over two decades (2000-2001, 2008-2009, and 2019) and across ~1,000 kilometers of coastline to quantify the prey-driven selection landscape. We analyzed mussel shell thickness at 1/3 the length of the mussel shell as this is the most commonly drilled region. Mussel ...