Does peripheral dislodgement contribute to heterozygote deficiencies in blue mussels?

Differential loss of heterozygous individuals that move to the periphery of mussel aggregations, where they are at greater risk for dislodgement, has been proposed as an explanation for observed heterozygote deficiencies in blue mussels. To test the dislodgement hypothesis, correlations between hete...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Invertebrate biology Vol. 136; no. 3; pp. 301 - 308
Main Authors:	Daniels, Eleanor Q., Litvaitis, Marian K.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Hoboken Wiley 01-09-2017 Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
Subjects:	byssal thread attachment Ecological aggregations Heterozygosity Marine molluscs Microsatellites Mollusks Motility mussel movement Mussels Mytilus edulis Original Articles
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	Differential loss of heterozygous individuals that move to the periphery of mussel aggregations, where they are at greater risk for dislodgement, has been proposed as an explanation for observed heterozygote deficiencies in blue mussels. To test the dislodgement hypothesis, correlations between heterozygosity and mussel motility, as well as characteristics of byssogenesis and byssal thread attachment strengths, were determined in a wild and a farmed population of blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) from New Hampshire, USA. Although both populations exhibited a heterozygote deficit as measured by three microsatellite loci, no relationship was found between heterozygosity and increased motility in either population. Similarly, no relationship was found between heterozygosity and byssogenesis or attachment strength. Hence, differential dislodgement is highly unlikely as a possible contributor to the loss of heterozygous individuals.
ISSN:	1077-8306 1744-7410
DOI:	10.1111/ivb.12183