( hem as more worldly ?expressed induci...)Mussels evolve quickly to defend against invasive crabs

"The mussel's inducible response to H. sanguineus reflects natural selection favoring the recognition of this novel predator through rapid evolution of cue specifity or thresholds," Freeman and Byers write.

Findings were consistent in two experiments over two years, one in a laboratory setting in Nahant, Mass., and one in the field at Woods Hole, Mass. "The consistency over two years and two sites really suggests an underlying robust mechanism," says Byers, who is Freeman's dissertation advisor.

While this sort of rapid evolutionary response to predators has been exhibited in some other species, all have been vertebrates. The blue mussel, which Freeman describes as the lab rat of marine biologists, is an invertebrate "that people assume is not very bright," he says. Yet his findings indicate that within the brief span of 15 years, it has evolved an inducible response to a new predator.

How do mussels evolve so quickly? In southern New England, the scientists say, mussels are prey to many crabs as well as other marine species. "When Hemigrapsus came along the mussels' wheels were well-greased to respond," says Byers. "That's our best guess."

Byers helps put the impact of the research in context. Because extensive data does not exist on invasive ecology, "there's a tendency to extrapolate any data you get on an invasive species. But here we show that the response from the prey differs over just a couple hundred kilometers."

And while its "real world" impact is not immediately obvious, Byers suggests that perhaps northern Maine and Canadian shellfishers might consider "beefing up the worldliness of their naïve mussel populations before the Hemigrapsus arrives," he says, suggesting that this could be done by mixing some of the responsive southern mussels into the naïve northern stocks. "Although 15 years is fast to evolve bet
'"/>

Source:University of New Hampshire