Bivalves
Hardshell clams and mussels have been a subsistence harvest species for millennia as well as a popular recreational harvest species in the northern Gulf of Alaska region. Dramatic declines of hardshell clams in the region over the past decade have raised concern in Kachemak Bay community members, the Seldovia Village Tribe (SVT), and resource managing agencies, such as Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G).
Clam success varies across species, size, and life history stages, and depends on past and present environmental exposure. Within the Interface of Change project, researchers will collect data on clam success and environmental conditions. Where available, historical data provided by partners (ADFG and SVT) will supplement our data collection. The goal is to use field and historical data to look for relationships between coastal environmental qualities with the distribution, abundance, biomass, size distribution, and body condition of hardshell clams.
Hypotheses:
| 1.) Increased turbidity, reduced salinity, and shifts in temperature and nutrient sources will correlate with the distribution, abundance, biomass, size, and body condition of hardshell clams. |
| 2.) Mussels from non-glacierized estuaries will be more resistant and resilient to pulsed, acute shifts to abiotic variables such as salinity, turbidity, temperature, and pH than will cohorts from glacierized watersheds, which will be more tolerant of prolonged, chronic shifts. |
| 3.) Hardshell clam genomes exhibit spatially partitioned selection across the GoA. |
| 4.) Hardshell clam eRNA will reflect transcriptional differences between life-history stages. |