Plastic and heritable variation in shell thickness of the intertidal gastropod Nucella lapillus associated with risks of crab predation and wave action, and sexual maturation.

The intertidal snail Nucella lapillus generally has thicker shells at sites sheltered from wave action, where crabs are abundant and pose a high risk of predation, than at exposed sites where crabs are rare. We studied two populations showing the opposite trend. We reciprocally transplanted snails b...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sonia Pascoal, Gary Carvalho, Simon Creer, Sonia Mendo, Roger Hughes
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2012-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3521725?pdf=render