Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons^™

Phenotypic Clines, Plasticity, And Morphological Trade-Offs In An Intertidal Snail, Gc Trussell

VIMS Articles

Understanding the genetic and environmental bases of phenotypic variation and how they covary on local and broad geographic scales is an important goal of evolutionary ecology. Such information can shed light on how organisms adapt to different and changing environments and how life‐history trade‐offs arise. Surveys of phenotypic variation in 25 Littorina obtusata populations across an approximately 400‐km latitudinal gradient in the Gulf of Maine revealed pronounced clines. The shells of snails from northern habitats weighed less and were thinner and weaker in compression than those of conspecifics from southern habitats. In contrast, body size (as measured by soft tissue …