Environmental influence on calcification of the bivalve Chamelea gallina along a latitudinal gradient in the Adriatic Sea.

ABSTRACT: Environmental factors are encoded in shells of marine bivalves in the form of geochemical properties, shell microstructure and shell growth rate. Few studies have investigated how shell growth is affected by habitat conditions in natural populations of the commercial clam Chamelea gallina. Here, skeletal parameters (micro-density and apparent porosity) and growth parameters (bulk density, linear extension and net calcification rates) were investigated in relation to shell sizes and environmental parameters along a latitudinal gradient in the Adriatic Sea (400 km). Net calcification rates increased with increasing solar radiation, sea surface temperature and salinity and decreasing Chlorophyll concentration in immature and mature shells. In immature shells, which are generally more porous t

SUBMITTER: Mancuso A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6671978 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature