<p>The Mediterranean striped venus (<em>Chamelea gallina</em>) is a valuable economic species in the Mediterranean Sea. In the last decades the over-exploitation of this fishing resource and the occurrence of several mass mortality events, lead to a strong quantitative decline in clam population density in the Adriatic Sea. Studying the effects of climate-driven changes of environmental factors on <em>C. gallina</em>, therefore, is of increasing interest both from an academic and economic point of view.</p><p>Previous studies have mainly focused on population dynamics, shell growth and structure of this species in the present-day Mediterranean Sea. In contrast, there is no information about shell variations in relation to climate-driven environmental change along temporal gradients.</p><p>This ongoing study investigates and contrasts variations in shell microstructure and shell growth parameters of <em>C. gallina</em> assemblages from Holocene sedimentary archives of the Northern Adriatic (Italy). Four shoreface-related <em>C. gallina</em> horizons are being evaluated: two from the present-day Adriatic setting and two from the Middle Holocene sedimentary succession of the Adriatic-Po system, when regional sea surface temperatures were higher than today, thus representing a possible analogue for the near-future global warming. Specifically we aim to: 1) determine the life span of selected specimen using three independent ageing methods (shell surface growth rings, shell internal bands and stable isotope composition); 2) determine shell growth parameters and functions concerning linear extension and net calcification rates for each assemblage investigated.</p><p>This approach should give access to an archive of ecological responses to past climate transitions and enabling reconstruction of the <em>C. gallina</em> natural range of variability on time-scale well beyond the ecological monitoring or small-scale experiments. Additionally, the young (sub)fossil record should offer insights on the adaptive capacities of <em>C. gallina</em> facing near-future anthropogenic warming and may allow implementation of a more effective management of this economically important bivalve species in the near-future.</p>