Don’t forget to register for the final webinar in this series on

Thursday, December 12, 2019 at 1:00 PM ET.

Register here for this webinar.

“Population Differences in Resilience to Climate Change:
Responses of Blue Mussels to Ocean Acidification”

Presented by:
Dianna Padilla, PhD., Stony Brook University

Most research to date suggests that bivalve molluscs are particularly sensitive to the impacts of ocean acidification (OA). But, at present we do not know whether differences among local environmental conditions has selected for animals with different sensitivities to stressors. Similarly we do not know whether responses to environmental stressors are phenotypically plastic, allowing animals with broad physiological tolerances to be robust to environmental stress.  Blue mussels, Mytilus edulis, were collected from sites around Long Island Sound (LIS) to test whether mussels from more stressful environments are more resilient to the impacts of OA as larvae, juveniles, as well as across generations.  We found that mussels from different populations show different responses to OA in larval survivorship and juvenile growth.  Interestingly, although there were differences among populations in some traits, there was no effect of OA (e.g., time to metamorphosis, shell structure, thickness and breaking strength). Mussels reared for a second generation under OA stress indicates that in some cases robustness to OA stress was masked in the first generation but was revealed in the second generation.  As a whole, these results suggest that there is variation in both genetic and phenotypically plastic robustness to OA stress in blue mussels.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing detailed information about this webinar and the system requirements. Please note that although the presentation does not begin until 1:00 PM ET, the webinar will be available starting at 12:30 PM ET.

If you are unable to attend this webinar, it will be recorded and made available on the NECAN website, www.NECAN.org