Abstract
Marine species exhibit a multitude of biological rhythms, in accordance with their complex ecosystem governed by sun, earth and moon trajectories. Because of the inclination of the earth’s axis, the high Arctic ecosystem is characterized by several months of permanent illumination during the polar day. The persistence of biological rhythms in this photic context remains unclear. Yet, this information is crucial for the understanding of polar ecosystems functioning, as well as to predict the impact of future climate changes. Particularly, the impact of extreme photoperiods on recent invasive species remains largely unknown. Here, we investigate how environmental cycles shape the behavior of a re-emerging polar resident, the mussel Mytilus sp. during polar day (17 April to 26 August 2020; Svalbard, Ny-Ålesund, 78°56ʹ N, 11°56ʹ E). Our results show that in the high Arctic polar day, mussels’ behavior is shaped by both the photoperiod and the diel sun trajectories above the horizon. In addition, mussels also exhibit tidal, semi-lunar, and lunar rhythms of valve opening amplitude. We argue that these rhythms may have ecosystems functioning implications, and that the mussels’ ability to deal with drastic light regimes may explain their northward expansion and new resettlement in high Arctic.
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Acknowledgements
We thank C. Portier, M. Sow, J. Berge, P.E. Renaud, G. Tran and S. Duveau for technical assistance and discussion. Authors also thank the AWI center for scientific diving for their help to biosensors deployment. We thank the reviewers.
Funding
This work was supported by the French National Research Agency (ANR), WAQMOS project 15-CE04-0002 (2015–2020), the French Polar Institute, IPEV (ARCTICLOCK project 1166), the Svalbard Environmental Protection Fund (project 15/133) and the High North Research Centre for Climate and the Environment (Fram Centre) throughout the flagship “Effects of climate change on sea and coastal ecology in the north”.
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Study design and methodology: DT, LP, PC, HA, CB, LC; biosensor manufacture: PC, DT; fieldwork: DT, PC, HA, CB; data treatment: ALM, LP, DT; interpretation: ALM, LP, DT; manuscript writing: ALM, LP, DT; review and editing: all authors; funding: DT, LC, HA. All authors contributed critically to the drafts, and gave final approval for publication.
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Le Moal, A., Payton, L., Andrade, H. et al. Blue mussels’ valve behavior exhibits daily and lunar rhythms during the high Arctic polar day. Mar Biol 170, 113 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-023-04257-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-023-04257-6