Biogeographic variation in mussel shell thickness and drilling predation on rocky shores.

ABSTRACT: Although predator and prey species often interact over broad geographic ranges, little consideration has been given to whether environmentally-driven variation in prey traits might create a landscape of selection that shapes the evolution of predator traits. Here, we investigate whether predatory intertidal snails (the dogwhelk Nucella canaliculata) vary in their drilling capacity in association with prey defenses (mussel shell thickness) over ~ 1000 km of coastline in the northeast Pacific. We analyzed mussels (Mytilus californianus) collected over two decades and found that shells from central Oregon were historically ~ 20% thicker than those from California. We tested the drilling capacity of dogwhelks raised under common-garden laboratory conditions and found that dogwhelks from Califo

SUBMITTER: Longman EK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12238184 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature