Publication Date:
2024-03-15
Description:
Predicting how combinations of stressors will affect failure risk is a key challenge for the field of ecomechanics and, more generally, ecophysiology. Environmental conditions often influence the manufacture and durability of biomaterials, inducing structural failure that potentially compromises organismal reproduction, growth, and survival. Species known for tight linkages between structural integrity and survival include bivalve mussels, which produce numerous byssal threads to attach to hard substrate. Among the current environmental threats to marine organisms are ocean warming and acidification. Elevated pCO2 exposure is known to weaken byssal threads by compromising the strength of the adhesive plaque. This study uses structural analysis to evaluate how an additional stressor, elevated temperature, influences byssal thread quality and production. Mussels (Mytilus trossulus) were placed in controlled temperature and pCO2 treatments, and then, newly produced threads were counted and pulled to failure to determine byssus strength. The effects of elevated temperature on mussel attachment were dramatic; mussels produced 60% weaker and 65% fewer threads at 25°C in comparison to 10°C. These effects combine to weaken overall attachment by 64–88% at 25°C. The magnitude of the effect of pCO2 on thread strength was substantially lower than that of temperature and, contrary to our expectations, positive at high pCO2 exposure. Failure mode analysis localized the effect of temperature to the proximal region of the thread, whereas pCO2 affected only the adhesive plaques. The two stressors therefore act independently, and because their respective target regions are interconnected (resisting tension in series), their combined effects on thread strength are exactly equal to the effect of the strongest stressor. Altogether, these results show that mussels, and the coastal communities they support, may be more vulnerable to the negative effects of ocean warming than ocean acidification.
Keywords:
Alkalinity, total; Alkalinity, total, standard deviation; Animalia; Aragonite saturation state; Benthic animals; Benthos; Bicarbonate ion; Bottles or small containers/Aquaria (〈20 L); Breaking extension; Breaking force; Breaking stress; Calcite saturation state; Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. (2010); Carbon, inorganic, dissolved; Carbonate ion; Carbonate system computation flag; Carbon dioxide; Coast and continental shelf; Diameter; EXP; Experiment; Extensibility; Fugacity of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); Gonad index; Growth/Morphology; Identification; Laboratory experiment; Length; Location; Mollusca; Mussel condition index; Mytilus trossulus; North Pacific; OA-ICC; Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre; Other studied parameter or process; Partial pressure of carbon dioxide, standard deviation; Partial pressure of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); pH; pH, standard deviation; Registration number of species; Salinity; San_Juan_Island; Single species; Size; Species; Stiffness; Temperate; Temperature; Temperature, water; Temperature, water, standard deviation; Thread yield force; Treatment; Type; Uniform resource locator/link to reference; Youngs modulus
Type:
Dataset
Format:
text/tab-separated-values, 7049 data points
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