You are here:
BIVALVE BIOGEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTIONS, ABUNDANCES, AND CLIMATE VULNERABILITY FROM THE BEAUFORT SEA TO THE GULF OF CALIFORNIA
Citation:
Lee, H., R. Graham, P. Valentich-Scott, D. Reusser, C. Folger, AND K. Marko. BIVALVE BIOGEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTIONS, ABUNDANCES, AND CLIMATE VULNERABILITY FROM THE BEAUFORT SEA TO THE GULF OF CALIFORNIA. Presented at Mollusca 2014, Mexico City, MEXICO, June 23 - 27, 2014.
Impact/Purpose:
To predict the relative vulnerability of near-coastal species to climate change along the Pacific Coast. This work focuses on bilvalves from the Beaufort Sea to the Gulf of California.
Description:
As part of an U.S. EPA/USGS project to predict the relative vulnerability of near-coastal species to climate change along the Pacific Coast, we have synthesized the biogeographic distributions and abundances of bivalves found in depths <200 m. We have included the twelve “Marine Ecoregions of the World” (MEOW) ecoregions that range from the Beaufort Sea to the Gulf of California (GOC). The biogeographic patterns and life history traits are being synthesized in a web-based tool, the Coastal Biogeographic Risk Analysis Tool (CBRAT). A total of 889 bivalve species have been reported over this domain, with the GOC having the greatest species richness (627) and the Beaufort the lowest (66). There are 31 endemic bivalves, with the GOC having the majority (19) and Southern California the next highest concentration (8). Of the 71 families present, Veneridae is the most speciose with 86 species, while 10 families are only represented by a single species, of which two are considered nonindigenous. As a key trait to predicting climate vulnerability, we are presently assigning relative abundances to each species in each ecoregion. The most progress has been made in the area between Southern California and Canada, where over 94% of the species have an assigned relative abundance. Additionally, we have analyzed the biogeographic distributions of three high vulnerability species traits (endemicity, exclusively intertidal distributions, and symbionts) and one resilience trait (brooding). After further ecoregional abundances are assigned, the species traits and abundance patterns will be synthesized to generate ecoregional vulnerability scores. For example, Nuttallia obscurata, a nonindigenous species with an increasing population, is projected to have a lower vulnerability than Neaeromya compressa, a commensal with relatively rare populations everywhere.