10 documents found, page 1 of 1
Photosynthetic response to a winter heatwave in leading and trailing edge popul...
Kolzenburg, Regina; Ragazzola, Federica; Tamburello, Laura; Nicastro, Katy; McQuaid, Christopher D.; Zardi, GerardoMarine heatwaves (MHWs) caused by anthropogenic climate change are becoming a key driver of change at the ecosystem level. Thermal conditions experienced by marine organisms across their distribution, particularly towards the equator, are likely to approach their physiological limits, resulting in extensive mortality and subsequent changes at the population level. Populations at the margins of their species' di...
Symbiotic endolithic microbes reduce host vulnerability to an unprecedented hea...
Zardi, Gerardo; Monsinjon, Jonathan R.; Seuront, Laurent; Spilmont, Nicolas; McQuaid, Christopher D.; Nicastro, KatyHeatwaves are increasingly severe and frequent, posing significant threats to ecosystems and human well-being. Characterised by high thermal variability, intertidal communities are particularly vulnerable to heat stress. Microbial endolithic communities that are found in marine calcifying organisms have been shown to induce shell erosion that alters shell surface colour, lowering body temperatures and increasin...
Effects of habitat quality on abundance, size and growth of mussel recruits
Oróstica, Mauricio H.; Wyness, Adam J.; Monsinjon, Jonathan R.; Nicastro, Katy; Zardi, Gerardo; Barker, Cassandra; McQuaid, Christopher D.Recruitment of mussels is a complex process with the successful arrival of individuals hinging on the availability of suitable habitats. We examined the effects of adult mussels as settlement habitat and the degree to which the suitability of habitat they offer is species-specific by comparing the recruitment success of intertidal mussels. We hypothesised that mussel recruitment and early growth are dictated by...
Biogeographical patterns of endolithic infestation in an invasive and an indige...
Ndhlovu, Aldwin; McQuaid, Christopher D.; Nicastro, Katy; Marquet, Nathalie; Gektidis, Marcos; Monaco, Cristián J.; Zardi, GerardoBy altering the phenotypic properties of their hosts, endolithic parasites can modulate the engineering processes of marine ecosystem engineers. Here, we assessed the biogeographical patterns of species assemblages, prevalence and impact of endolithic parasitism in two mussel species that act as important ecosystem engineers in the southern African intertidal habitat, Perna perna and Mytilus galloprovincialis. ...
Understanding the margin squeeze: differentiation in fitness-related traits bet...
Kolzenburg, Regina; Nicastro, Katy; McCoy, Sophie J.; Ford, Alex T.; Zardi, Gerardo; Ragazzola, FedericaAssessing population responses to climate-related environmental change is key to understanding the adaptive potential of the species as a whole. Coralline algae are critical components of marine shallow water ecosystems where they function as important ecosystem engineers. Populations of the calcifying algae Corallina officinalis from the center (southern UK) and periphery (northern Spain) of the North Atlantic...
Long-term, high frequency in situ measurements of intertidal mussel bed tempera...
Helmuth, Brian; Choi, Francis; Matzelle, Allison; Torossian, Jessica L.; Morello, Scott L.; Mislan, K. A. S.; Yamane, Lauren; Strickland, DeniseAt a proximal level, the physiological impacts of global climate change on ectothermic organisms are manifest as changes in body temperatures. Especially for plants and animals exposed to direct solar radiation, body temperatures can be substantially different from air temperatures. We deployed biomimetic sensors that approximate the thermal characteristics of intertidal mussels at 71 sites worldwide, from 1998...
Behind the mask: cryptic genetic diversity of Mytilus galloprovincialis along s...
Lourenço, Carla R.; Nicastro, Katy; Serrao, Ester A.; Castilho, Rita; Zardi, GerardoMorphological uniformity in geographically widespread species may cause genetically distinct entities to pass unnoticed if they can only be detected by molecular approaches. The importance of uncovering such cryptic diversity is prompted by the need to understand the putative adaptive potential of populations along species ranges and to manage biodiversity conservation efforts. In this study, we aim to assess c...
Wider sampling reveals a non-sister relationship for geographically contiguous ...
Lopes Da Cunha, Regina; Nicastro, Katy; Costa, Joana; McQuaid, Christopher D.; Serrao, Ester A.; Zardi, GerardoThe accuracy of phylogenetic inference can be significantly improved by the addition of more taxa and by increasing the spatial coverage of sampling. In previous studies, the brown mussel Perna perna showed a sister-lineage relationship between eastern and western individuals contiguously distributed along the South African coastline. We used mitochondrial (COI) and nuclear (ITS) sequence data to further analyz...
Coastal topography drives genetic structure in marine mussels
Nicastro, Katy; Zardi, Gerardo; McQuaid, C. D.; Teske, P. R.; Barker, N. P.Understanding population connectivity is fundamental] to ecology, and, for sedentary organisms, connectivity is achieved through larval dispersal. We tested whether coastal topography influences genetic structure in Perna Perna mussels by comparing populations inside bays and on the open coast. Higher hydrodynamic stress on the open coast produces higher mortality and thus genetic turnover. Populations on the o...
Movement behaviour and mortality in invasive and indigenous mussels: resilience...
Nicastro, Katy; Zardi, Gerardo; McQuaid, C. D.The responses of indigenous and exotic species to environmental factors can differ across spatial and temporal scales, and it is this difference that determines invasion success and the dynamics of co-existence, In South Africa, the indigenous Perna perna and the invasive Mytilus galloprovincialis are the dominant intertidal mussels on the southern coast, where they co-exist. We compared their movement behaviou...