The Roles of Plasticity and Selection in Rapid Phenotypic Changes at the Pacific Oyster Invasion Front in Europe.

ABSTRACT: Invasive species present significant management challenges worldwide due to their ability to rapidly adapt to novel environments. The Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas, a globally distributed invasive species, arrived in western Sweden in 2006 but has not yet colonised the low salinity waters of the Baltic Sea, presumably because low salinities act as a barrier to reproduction. We used classic mating designs to investigate fertilisation rates and heritability of embryonal salinity tolerance (in 8‰-33‰) in oysters from three locations with different invasion history and salinity (established, 33‰; past invasion front, 23.5‰; and present invasion front, 16‰). We found that fertilisation rates at lower salinities increased with proximity to the range front, with a pronounced heritable componen

SUBMITTER: Kinnby A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12684338 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature