Plasticity of thermal tolerance and its relationship with growth rate in juvenile mussels (Mytilus californianus).

ABSTRACT: Complex life cycles characterized by uncertainty at transitions between larval/juvenile and adult environments could favour irreversible physiological plasticity at such transitions. To assess whether thermal tolerance of intertidal mussels (Mytilus californianus) adjusts to post-settlement environmental conditions, we collected juveniles from their thermally buffered microhabitat from high- and low-shore locations at cool (wave-exposed) and warm (wave-protected) sites. Juveniles were transplanted to unsheltered cages at the two low sites or placed in a common garden. Juveniles transplanted to the warm site for one month in summer had higher thermal tolerance, regardless of origin site. By contrast, common-garden juveniles from all sites had lower tolerance indistinguishable from ex

SUBMITTER: Gleason LU 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5936721 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature