Evidence for Carbonate System Mediated Shape Shift in an Intertidal Predatory Gastropod
<jats:p>Phenotypic plasticity represents an important first-line organism response to newly introduced or changing environmental constraints. Knowledge about structural responses to environmental stressors could thus be an essential measure to predict species and ecosystem responses to a world...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media SA
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/337619 https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.85026 |
| Summary: | <jats:p>Phenotypic plasticity represents an important first-line organism response to newly introduced or changing environmental constraints. Knowledge about structural responses to environmental stressors could thus be an essential measure to predict species and ecosystem responses to a world in change. In this study, we combined morphometric analyses with environmental modelling to identify direct shape responses of the predatory gastropod <jats:italic>Nucella lapillus</jats:italic> to large-scale variability in sea surface temperature and the carbonate system. Our models suggest that the state of the carbonate system and, more specifically, the substrate inhibitor ratio <jats:inline-formula> ( [ H C O 3 − ] [ H + ] − 1 ) </jats:inline-formula> (SIR) has a dominant effect on the shell shape of this intertidal muricid. Populations in regions with a lower SIR tend to form narrower shells with a higher spire to body whorl ratio, whereas populations in areas with a higher SIR form wider shells with a much lower spire to body whorl ratio. These results indicate that a widespread phenotypic response of <jats:italic>N. lapillus</jats:italic> to continuing ocean acidification can be expected, potentially altering the phenotypic response pattern to predator or wave exposure regimes with profound implications for North Atlantic rocky shore communities.</jats:p> |
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