TY - JOUR
T1 - Environmental refuges increase performance of juvenile mussels Mytilus chilensis
T2 - Implications for mussel seedling and farming strategies
AU - Jahnsen-Guzmán, N.
AU - Lagos, N. A.
AU - Lardies, M. A.
AU - Vargas, C. A.
AU - Fernández, C.
AU - San Martín, V. A.
AU - Saavedra, L.
AU - Cuevas, L. Antonio
AU - Quijón, P. A.
AU - Duarte, C.
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was funded by Millennium Science Initiative from Chile's Ministry of Economy, Development, and Tourism , through both the Millennium Nucleus MUSELS ( NC120086 ) and the Millennium Institute of Oceanography (IMO; IC120019 ). NJG, NAL, MAL and CD also thank the support from PIA ANID ANILLOS ACT172037 . Additional support from FONDECYT 1170065 to CAV and FONDECYT 1171056 to CD is also acknowledged. PAQ acknowledges the support from NSERC and UPEI during the preparation of this manuscript.
Funding Information:
This study was funded by Millennium Science Initiative from Chile's Ministry of Economy, Development, and Tourism, through both the Millennium Nucleus MUSELS (NC120086) and the Millennium Institute of Oceanography (IMO; IC120019). NJG, NAL, MAL and CD also thank the support from PIA ANID ANILLOS ACT172037. Additional support from FONDECYT 1170065 to CAV and FONDECYT 1171056 to CD is also acknowledged. PAQ acknowledges the support from NSERC and UPEI during the preparation of this manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2021/1/10
Y1 - 2021/1/10
N2 - Estuarine ecosystems are characterized by a wide physical-chemical variation that in the context of global change scenarios may be exacerbated in the future. The fitness of resident organisms is expected to be influenced by such variation and, hence, its study is a priority. Some of that variation relates to water vertical stratification, which may create “environmental refuges” or distinct layers of water with conditions favoring the fitness of some individuals and species. This study explored the performance of juvenile mussels (M. chilensis) settled in two distinctive water depths (1 m and 4 m) of the Reloncaví fjord (southern Chile) by conducting a reciprocal transplants experiment. Salinity, saturation state and the contents of CO3 in seawater were among the factors that best explained the differences between the two layers. In such environmental conditions, the mussel traits that responded to such variation were growth and calcification rates, with significantly higher values at 4 m deep, whereas the opposite, increased metabolic stress, was higher in mussels raised and transplanted to the surface waters (1 m). Such differences support the notion of an environmental refuge, where species like mussels can find better growth conditions and achieve higher performance levels. These results are relevant considering the importance of M. chilensis as a shellfish resource for aquaculture and a habitat forming species. In addition, these results shed light on the variable responses exhibited by estuarine organisms to small-scale changes in the characteristics of the water column, which in turn will help to better understand the responses of the organisms to the projected scenarios of climate global change.
AB - Estuarine ecosystems are characterized by a wide physical-chemical variation that in the context of global change scenarios may be exacerbated in the future. The fitness of resident organisms is expected to be influenced by such variation and, hence, its study is a priority. Some of that variation relates to water vertical stratification, which may create “environmental refuges” or distinct layers of water with conditions favoring the fitness of some individuals and species. This study explored the performance of juvenile mussels (M. chilensis) settled in two distinctive water depths (1 m and 4 m) of the Reloncaví fjord (southern Chile) by conducting a reciprocal transplants experiment. Salinity, saturation state and the contents of CO3 in seawater were among the factors that best explained the differences between the two layers. In such environmental conditions, the mussel traits that responded to such variation were growth and calcification rates, with significantly higher values at 4 m deep, whereas the opposite, increased metabolic stress, was higher in mussels raised and transplanted to the surface waters (1 m). Such differences support the notion of an environmental refuge, where species like mussels can find better growth conditions and achieve higher performance levels. These results are relevant considering the importance of M. chilensis as a shellfish resource for aquaculture and a habitat forming species. In addition, these results shed light on the variable responses exhibited by estuarine organisms to small-scale changes in the characteristics of the water column, which in turn will help to better understand the responses of the organisms to the projected scenarios of climate global change.
KW - Bivalves
KW - Environmental refuges
KW - Fjords
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85090140708&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141723
DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141723
M3 - Article
C2 - 32892078
AN - SCOPUS:85090140708
SN - 0048-9697
VL - 751
JO - Science of the Total Environment
JF - Science of the Total Environment
M1 - 141723
ER -