Micro-scale environmental variation amplifies physiological variation among individual mussels.

ABSTRACT: The contributions of temporal and spatial environmental variation to physiological variation remain poorly resolved. Rocky intertidal zone populations are subjected to thermal variation over the tidal cycle, superimposed with micro-scale variation in individuals' body temperatures. Using the sea mussel (Mytilus californianus), we assessed the consequences of this micro-scale environmental variation for physiological variation among individuals, first by examining the latter in field-acclimatized animals, second by abolishing micro-scale environmental variation via common garden acclimation, and third by restoring this variation using a reciprocal outplant approach. Common garden acclimation reduced the magnitude of variation in tissue-level antioxidant capacities by approximately 30% among

SUBMITTER: Jimenez AG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4685784 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature