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Phenotypic Selection In An Intertidal Snail: Effects Of A Catastrophic Storm, G. Trussell
Phenotypic Selection In An Intertidal Snail: Effects Of A Catastrophic Storm, G. Trussell
VIMS Articles
Littorina obtusata exhibits clear morphological variation (e.g. shell height, shell length, and aperture area) among shores differentially exposed to wave energies. Selection imposed by the hydrodynamic environment is often invoked to explain the correlation between morphology and wave exposure in intertidal organisms, but rarely is this hypothesis tested. I examined the effects of a catastrophic storm on the shell length and relative shell height and aperture area of L. obtusata populations on 2 protected and 1 wave-exposed share in New England (USA) to test this hypothesis. Snails sampled after the storm had relatively squatter shells than those sampled before the …