Some Like It Hot: Physiology, Biogeography, and the Impacts of Climate Change On Three Marine Mussel Species
type: CreativeWork
description: Mechanisms controlling species' biogeographic ranges have been of interest for centuries, as biologists explore the suite of factors that constrain a species to a certain distribution. These factors include abiotic environmental variables such as temperature and precipitation and biotic factors such as competition and predation. Understanding what factors affect the distribution of a species helps us better understand its life history and potential impacts from external forces such as climate change, habitat destruction, and the introduction of invasive species. The closely-related marine mussels Mytilus edulis , M. trossulus , and M. galloprovincialis provide an ideal study system for the effects of a changing environment on the biogeography of species. These three species form a biogeographic replacement series with respect to temperature, as one species replaces another as climate varies with latitude. We examined several of the mechanisms constraining the distribution of these species. The physiological energetics of each of the three species correlated with their current range distributions. M. galloprovincialis , the most warm-water species, was able to maintain a positive energy budget, energy available for growth and reproduction to sustain a population, at higher temperatures than M. edulis or M. trossulus . The warm end of each species' range correlated strongly with the point at which that species' energy budget became negative in summer and fall, while energetics at cold temperatures did not predict the cold end of the species' ranges. A case study of the distribution of M. edulis and M. galloprovincialis in Great Britain revealed significant sea surface temperature (SST) warming over the past three decades, but no large-scale shifts in species distribution. There were fine-scale changes in species composition that depended on the genetic architecture of the populations. Populations with higher frequencies of pure species genotypes showed larger changes …
abstract: Mechanisms controlling species' biogeographic ranges have been of interest for centuries, as biologists explore the suite of factors that constrain a species to a certain distribution. These factors include abiotic environmental variables such as temperature and precipitation and biotic factors such as competition and predation. Understanding what factors affect the distribution of a species helps us better understand its life history and potential impacts from external forces such as climate change, habitat destruction, and the introduction of invasive species. The closely-related marine mussels Mytilus edulis , M. trossulus , and M. galloprovincialis provide an ideal study system for the effects of a changing environment on the biogeography of species. These three species form a biogeographic replacement series with respect to temperature, as one species replaces another as climate varies with latitude. We examined several of the mechanisms constraining the distribution of these species. The physiological energetics of each of the three species correlated with their current range distributions. M. galloprovincialis , the most warm-water species, was able to maintain a positive energy budget, energy available for growth and reproduction to sustain a population, at higher temperatures than M. edulis or M. trossulus . The warm end of each species' range correlated strongly with the point at which that species' energy budget became negative in summer and fall, while energetics at cold temperatures did not predict the cold end of the species' ranges. A case study of the distribution of M. edulis and M. galloprovincialis in Great Britain revealed significant sea surface temperature (SST) warming over the past three decades, but no large-scale shifts in species distribution. There were fine-scale changes in species composition that depended on the genetic architecture of the populations. Populations with higher frequencies of pure species genotypes showed larger changes …
author: Fly, Elizabeth Kerrigan
keywords: Life Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, biogeography, climate change, mussel, Mytilus, physiology, species distribution
date published: 2012-01-01T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T04:38:23Z
provider: University of South Carolina
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of South Carolina