Diurnal and seasonal variation in physico-chemical conditions within intertidal rock pools

Differences in feeding adaptations in intertidal and subtidal suspension-feeding gastropods: studies on Crepidula fornicata and Crepipatella peruviana

“…The gradients of stressors most closely associated with intertidal life are usually linked to environmental heterogeneity from aerial exposure: when compared to subtidal organisms, intertidal organisms experience periodic exposure to desiccation (e.g., Garrity 1984) and to hypoxia (e.g., Brinkhoff et al 1983), rapid changes in salinity (especially in tide pools-e.g., Morris and Taylor 1983), and greater and more rapid temperature fluctuations (e.g., Diederich and Pechenik 2013). However, sessile suspension-feeding invertebrates, such as those investigated in the present study, are at an added disadvantage if they live intertidally, as they are unable to feed while exposed to the air.…”

“…However, our experiments were performed at cooler temperatures than in Chaparro et al (2002), and C. peruviana in our study were first removed from their substrates and transferred to plastic plates, both of which may have contributed to the slower particle velocities that we found. The intertidal zone is a particularly stressful place to live (e.g., Brinkhoff et al 1983;Morris and Taylor 1983;Garrity 1984;Petes et al 2007;Harley et al 2009;Miller et al 2009;Diederich and Pechenik 2013) for sedentary marine organisms, and physiological stress has previously been associated with reduced performance (i.e., feeding rate) in some marine invertebrates (Abel 1976;Menge 1978;Widdows et al 1981;McCormick et al 1998). The pattern of CR and particle velocity transport across the gill in addition to the pattern of size distribution (subtidal > intertidal) in C. peruviana suggests that intertidal individuals could be stressed in relatively poor physiological condition.…”

Ocean acidification alters the response of intertidal snails to a key sea star predator

“…R. Soc. B 283: 20160890 currently occur in rock pools [26,27], black turban snails might already be living with some pH-associated impairment. Given such considerations, and the possibility that further acclimatization and/or adaptation may be required for the future success of these organisms under conditions of even lower pH, the scatter surrounding the steep -slope portions of the curves in figure 4c,f could be relevant in that it implies that there may be meaningful interindividual variation in behaviour.…”

“…pH minima of 7.7 or lower; figure 1a). Intertidal rock pools-including those inhabited by T. funebralis and P. ochraceus-routinely encounter further extremes in pH that layer onto upwelling-induced pH depressions, as respiratory carbon from resident organisms accumulates at night in pools that are isolated from the adjacent ocean during low tides [26,27]. In intertidal pools along the coast of California, for instance, pH minima can fall to at least 7.2 during night-time low-tide series (figure 1c; [26]), and perhaps down to 6.9 on occasion (Y. Takeshita et al 2015, unpublished data), approaching the lows of 6.5 seen in other systems [30].…”

Thermal tolerance of the hermit crab <i>Pagurus samuelis</i> subjected to shallow burial events

“…Temperature is a crucial abiotic factor in determining the distribution of organisms in this harsh environment. During low tides, organisms found in the high and mid intertidal zones experience higher temperatures than low intertidal and subtidal organisms (Morris & Taylor, 1983;Dunbar, 2005;Benedetti-Cecchi & Trussell, 2014). Helmuth and Hofmann (2001) measured temperature changes in a small tide pool (1.5 m 1 m 15 cm deep) in Central California from July 1999 to June 2000.…”