Advances in Predicting the Impacts of Global Warming on the Mussels Mytilus galloprovincialis in the Mediterranean Sea

Using neutral and outlier loci to uncover the genetic structure of 'Mytilus galloprovincialis' populations from the eastern Adriatic coast using population genetic and seascape genetic approaches

“…It has supplanted native M. trossulus in southern California possibly due to its higher tolerance to warm temperatures (Schneider & Helmuth 2007, Tomanek 2012. Climate models predict that the Mediterranean Sea will be one of the regions hardest hit by warming trends and conditions are already close to the upper limit of tolerance for blue mussels with several instances of mass mortality associated with marine heatwaves in Spain, Greece and in the Adriatic Sea (Lejeusne et al 2010, Michaelidis et al 2014, Galli et al 2017. In the Mediterranean Sea moreover, shifts in species' distributional ranges are limited by the northern boundaries of the sea.…”

“…Organisms exposed to heavy metals have increased sensitivity to thermal stress and heat stressed organisms are more vulnerable to disease (Anestis et al 2010, Michaelidis et al 2014.…”

“…and selection related to environmental stress underlines the importance of natural genetic variation in blue mussels as climate challenges intensify. Although relatively few changes in transcriptional regulation between M. galloprovincialis and M. trossulus resulted in substantial increases in thermal tolerances between the congeners (Lockwood et al 2015), the severe impact of heat stress on highly evolved and conserved systems such as energy metabolism and detoxification argue that there is little room for further evolutionary adaptation to thermal stress (Tomanek 2012, Michaelidis et al 2014.…”

Using neutral and outlier loci to uncover the genetic structure of 'Mytilus galloprovincialis' populations from the eastern Adriatic coast using population genetic and seascape genetic approaches

“…Each female can produce up to 40 million eggs, only a fraction of which will be fertilized, survive predation and dispersal and reach habitat suitable for settlement (Gosling 2003, Cowen & Sponaugle 2009. In the Mediterranean Sea, their main habitat is the rocky intertidal zone, although in aquaculture areas they are grown on longlines and rafts (Michaelidis et al 2014, Mandić et al 2017. Environmental conditions in the summer in some areas of the Mediterranean Sea are close to, and in some instances have exceeded, the limits of their tolerance (Anestis et al 2007, Ramón et al 2007, Michaelidis et al 2014.…”

“…In the Mediterranean Sea, their main habitat is the rocky intertidal zone, although in aquaculture areas they are grown on longlines and rafts (Michaelidis et al 2014, Mandić et al 2017. Environmental conditions in the summer in some areas of the Mediterranean Sea are close to, and in some instances have exceeded, the limits of their tolerance (Anestis et al 2007, Ramón et al 2007, Michaelidis et al 2014. There have been increasing incidents of mass mortality during marine heat waves that have wiped out whole populations of mussels (Lejeusne et al 2010, Di Camillo & Cerrano 2015, Galli et al 2017.…”