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Assessment of intertidal growth and capacity adaptations in suspension-feeding bivalves

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Abstract

Curves relating instantaneous growth rate to aerial exposure were determined for six species of bivalves in laboratory and shore experiments. A dimensionless index equatable with the relative intertidal growth performance of a species was calculated by integration of the growth curve after converting both growth rate and aerial exposure to decimal fractions. Intertidal growth performance of the bivalves tested corresponded well with their natural levels of occurrence on the shore, and improved in the following order: Modiolus modiolus < Argopecten irradians < Ostrea edulis < Mytilus edulis < Crassostrea virginica. Geukensia demissa, for which an index value could not be determined, grew faster intertidally than subtidally. The relative contributions made to intertidal growth performance by energy-conserving and energy-supplementing capacity adaptations were assessed by resolving the growth curves into energy-input and energy-loss components. The rate of energy loss due to intertidal exposure was lower in the high-shore species, and also less affected by harsher subaerial conditions, than in the low-shore species. Moreover, M. edulis and C. virginica showed abilities to supplement energy input such that growth per unit immersion time was better at certain intertidal levels than subtidally. Energy conservation and supplementation in these forms made roughly equal contributions to their improved intertidal growth relative to species occurring lower on the shore.

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  1. R. B. Gillmor

    Present address: EG & G, Environmental Consultants, 300 Bear Hill Road, 02254, Waltham, Massachusetts, USA

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  1. Ira C. Darling Center, University of Maine, 04573, Walpole, Maine, USA

    R. B. Gillmor

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Communicated by S. K. Pierce, College Park

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Gillmor, R.B. Assessment of intertidal growth and capacity adaptations in suspension-feeding bivalves. Mar. Biol. 68, 277–286 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00409594

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