Effect of phenotypic variation on dogwhelk morphology during an eco-evolutionary field experiment

Although there is a growing body of work indicating that ecological and evolutionary processes can have reciprocal feedbacks on one another, few studies have tested these feedbacks in natural field settings at the community level. We tested the ecological consequences of selection on intra-population variation in dogwhelk drilling. We reared juvenile dogwhelks (Nucella canaliculata) on four early-life diet treatments (thin-shelled Mytilus trossulus, two treatments of M. californianus from two populations known to differ in adult shell thickness, and acorn barnacles) and then outplanted the dogwhelks to field cages to quantify the community effects of variation in drilling phenotype on mussel bed succession over a year. Changes in Nucella canaliculata morphology (change in length) were determined over the course of the experiment.

尽管越来越多的研究表明生态过程与进化过程之间可产生双向相互反馈，但目前鲜有研究在群落尺度下的自然野外环境中对这类反馈开展实证检验。本研究针对皱纹荔枝螺（Nucella canaliculata）钻孔行为的种群内变异所带来的生态效应进行了验证。我们将幼年皱纹荔枝螺分为4组早期生活史日粮处理组进行饲养：分别为薄壳细纹贻贝（Mytilus trossulus）、取自两个成体壳厚存在差异的种群的加州贻贝（M. californianus）的两个处理组，以及橡子藤壶（acorn barnacles）；随后将饲养后的荔枝螺移植至野外笼箱（field cages）中，以量化为期一年的钻孔表型变异对贻贝床（mussel bed）演替的群落效应。本实验全程测定了皱纹荔枝螺的形态变化（体长变化）。