Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-19T02:20:44.211Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Metabolic rate and growth in the temperate bivalve Mercenaria mercenaria at a biogeographical limit, from the English Channel

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2010

Alastair Brown ,
Olaf Heilmayer  and
Sven Thatje
Alastair Brown*
Affiliation:
National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, European Way, Southampton, SO14 3ZH, UK
Olaf Heilmayer
Affiliation:
National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, European Way, Southampton, SO14 3ZH, UK
Sven Thatje
Affiliation:
National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, European Way, Southampton, SO14 3ZH, UK
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: A. Brown, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, European Way, Southampton, SO14 3ZH, UK email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Metabolism and growth rate of the hard clam, Mercenaria mercenaria, were investigated in a population invasive to Southampton Water, southern England. An individual metabolic model expressed as a function of soft tissue dry mass was fitted to data of 18 individuals (log (VO2) = −1.952 + 0.543 • log (DM); F1,16 = 201.18, P < 0.001, r2 = 0.926). A von Bertalanffy growth function was fitted to 227 size-at-age data pairs of 18 individuals (Ht = 80.13 • (1 − e−0.149 • (t−0.542)); r2 = 0.927). Individual age-specific somatic production was calculated, demonstrating increase with age to a maximum of 3.88 kJ y−1 at ten years old followed by decrease, and individual age-specific annual respiration was calculated, demonstrating asymptotic increase with age to 231.37 kJ y−1 at 30 years old. Results found here lie within the physiological tolerances reported across the biogeographical range, suggesting that the species' biogeographical limitation in the UK to Southampton Water results from ecological rather than physiological factors.

Keywords

respirationsclerochronologyproductionhard clamnorthern quahog
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 90 , Issue 5 , August 2010 , pp. 1019 - 1023
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Ansell, A.D. (1968) The rate of growth of the hard clam Mercenaria mercenaria (L.) throughout the geographical range. Journal du Conseil 31, 346–409.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bayne, B.L. and Newell, R.C. (1983) Physiological energetics of marine molluscs. In Saleuddin, A.S.M. and Wilbur, K.M. (eds) The Mollusca: Physiology Part 1. Boston: Academic Press, pp. 407–515.Google Scholar
Brey, T. (2001) Population dynamics in benthic invertebrates. A virtual handbook. Version 01.2. [Online] http://www.thomas-brey.de/science/virtualhandbookGoogle Scholar
Eno, N.C., Clark, R.A. and Sanderson, W.G. (1997) Non-native marine species in British waters: a review and directory. Peterborough: Joint Nature Conservation Committee, 136 pp.Google Scholar
Eversole, A.G. (2001) Reproduction in Mercenaria mercenaria. In Kraeuter, J.N. and Castagna, M. (eds) Biology of the hard clam. Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp. 221–260. [Developments in Aquaculture and Fisheries Science, no. 31.]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fegley, S.R. (2001) Demography and dynamics of hard clam populations. In Kraeuter, J.N. and Castagna, M. (eds) Biology of the hard clam. Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp. 383–422. [Developments in Aquaculture and Fisheries Science, no. 31.]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fritz, L.W. (2001) Shell structure and age determination. In Kraeuter, J.N. and Castagna, M. (eds) Biology of the hard clam. Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp. 53–76. [Developments in Aquaculture and Fisheries Science, no. 31.]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grizzle, R.E., Bricelj, V.M. and Shumway, S.E. (2001) Physiological ecology of Mercenaria mercenaria. In Kraeuter, J.N. and Castagna, M. (eds) Biology of the hard clam. Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp. 305–382. [Developments in Aquaculture and Fisheries Science, no. 31.]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harding, J.M. (2007) Northern quahog (= hard clam) Mercenaria mercenaria age at length relationships and growth patterns in the York River, Virginia 1954 to 1970. Journal of Shellfish Research 26, 101–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harte, M.E. (2001) Systematics and taxonomy. In Kraeuter, J.N. and Castagna, M. (eds) Biology of the hard clam. Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp. 3–51. [Developments in Aquaculture and Fisheries Science, no. 31.]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heilmayer, O. and Brey, T. (2003) Saving by freezing? Metabolic rates of Adamussium colbecki in a latitudinal context. Marine Biology 143, 477–484.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heilmayer, O., Brey, T., Storch, D., Mackensen, A. and Arntz, A.E. (2004) Population dynamics and metabolism of Aequipecten opercularis (L.) from the western English Channel (Roscoff, France). Journal of Sea Research 52, 33–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hibbert, C.J. (1977) Energy relations of the bivalve Mercenaria mercenaria on an intertidal mudflat. Marine Biology 44, 77–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, D.S., Arthur, M.A. and Allard, D.J. (1989) Sclerochronological records of temperature and growth from shells of Mercenaria mercenaria from Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island. Marine Biology 102, 225–234.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, D.S., Quitmeyer, I.R., Arnold, W.S. and Marelli, D.C. (1990) Annual shell banding, age, and growth rate of hard clams (Mercenaria spp.) from Florida. Journal of Shellfish Research 9, 215–225.Google Scholar
Landry, T., Sephton, T.W. and Jones, D.A. (1993) Growth and mortality of northern quahog, Mercenaria mercenaria (Linnaeus, 1758) in Prince Edward Island. Journal of Shellfish Research 12, 321–327.Google Scholar
Loosanoff, V.L. (1959) The size and shape of metamorphosing larvae of Venus (Mercenaria) mercenaria grown at different temperatures. Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole 104, 146–155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loosanoff, V.L., Miller, W.S. and Smith, P.B. (1951) Growth and setting of larvae of Venus mercenaria in relation to temperature. Journal of Marine Research 10, 59–81.Google Scholar
Loveland, R.E. and Chu, D.S.K. (1969) Oxygen consumption and water movements in Mercenaria mercenaria. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology 29, 173–184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McHugh, J.L. (1984) Fishery management. Lecture notes on coastal and estuarine studies. Volume 10. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 207 pp.Google Scholar
Mitchell, R. (1974) Aspects of the ecology of the lamellibranch Mercenaria mercenaria (L.) in British waters. Hydrological Bulletin 8, 124–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peterson, C.H. (1986) Quantitative allometry of gamete production by Mercenaria mercenaria into old age. Marine Ecology Progress Series 29, 93–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pörtner, H.O., Storch, D. and Heilmayer, O. (2005) Constraints and trade-offs in climate-dependent adaptation: energy budgets and growth in a latitudinal cline. Scientia Marina 69, 271–285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richardson, C.A. and Walker, P. (1991) The age structure of a population of the hard-shell clam, Mercenaria mercenaria from Southampton Water, England, derived from acetate peel replicas of shell sections. ICES Journal of Marine Science 48, 229–236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schöne, B.R., Fiebig, J., Pfeiffer, M., Gleβ, R., Hickson, J., Johnson, A.L.A., Dreyer, W. and Oschmann, W. (2005) Climate records from a bivalve Methuselah (Arctica islandica, Mollusca; Iceland). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 228, 130–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar