Research Methods in Life Sciences Commons^™

Linking Large Scale Ocean-Atmospheric Patterns With Recruitment In Kellet’S Whelk (Kelletia Kelletii), Katherine N. Rodriguez

Biological Sciences

Global warming influences the biogeography of many marine and terrestrial species. Understanding species range shifts is ecologically and socioeconomically important when guiding management decisions for ecosystems exposed to a rapidly changing climate. In this natural experiment, I follow Danielle Zacherl’s methods (Zacherl et al. 2003) to study the effects of large-scale ocean-atmospheric patterns on recruitment of a marine snail, Kellet’s whelk (Kelletia kelletii); these organisms recently expanded their range North past the geographic barrier of Point Conception to Monterey, CA, USA. I use shell length data collected at 32 subtidal rocky reef kelp forest sites in 2015 (before …