Effects of early-life diet on Nucella canaliculata drilling phenotype quantified in the laboratory after rearing on different prey treatments

The growing field of eco-evolutionary dynamics has highlighted the importance of reciprocal feedbacks between evolutionary and ecological processes. We tested whether selection could act on existing within-population variation in a predatory trait in the marine dogwhelk, Nucella canaliculata. We reared newly hatched dogwhelks on four prey treatments (thin-shelled Mytilus trossulus, two treatments of M. californianus from two populations known to differ in adult shell thickness, and acorn barnacles). To quantify dogwhelk phenotype, we tested the surviving adult dogwhelks on their ability to drill mid-sized (5-7cm long) M. californianus. We found evidence that dogwhelk phenotype varied among the early-life diet treatments.