Temperature, desiccation, and species performance trends along an intertidal elevation gradient

This study investigated the effects of intertidal elevation on ecologically relevant temperature traits and the intensity of organism desiccation during low tides on a subpolar NW Atlantic shore. The goal was to relate those descriptors of environmental stress to elevational changes in the growth of dominant sessile species (algae and mussels) that influence overall community structure. In-situ measurements taken at the low, middle, and high intertidal zones revealed that daily temperature maxima, daily temperature range, and desiccation rate increased significantly from low to high elevations. Conditions were especially stressful at the high zone, as the highest temperature (47°C, recorded during aerial exposure at low tide) more than doubled seawater temperature and desiccation rate surpassed 90%. Transplant experiments showed that seaweed (Ascophyllum nodosum) and mussel (Mytilus edulis) growth rate decreased

• Publication year

  2012

• Venue

  Unknown venue

• Publication date

  Unknown publication date

• Fields of study

  Biology, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.31230/osf.io/y9ph3
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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