The impacts of thermal heterogeneity across microhabitats on post-settlement selection of intertidal mussels
Yue Tan, Yongxu Sun, Ya-Jie Zhu, Ming‐Ling Liao, Yun‐Wei Dong
Abstract
, we continuously recorded environmental temperatures in both tidal pools and emergent rock microhabitats and then assessed genetic differentiation, gene expression patterns, RNA editing level, and cardiac performance. Our results showed that the subpopulations in the tidal pool and on emergent rocks had different genetic structures and exhibited different physiological and molecular responses to high-temperature stress. These results indicate that environmental heterogeneity across microhabitats is important for driving genetic differentiation and shed light on the importance of post-settlement selection for adaptively modifying the genetic composition and thermal responses of these intertidal mussels.