Award: OCE-2050273

This project transformed understanding of how dense marine aggregations modify their local chemical environment and how those changes shape ecological function. Working with mytilid mussels, we demonstrated that flow strongly mediates the development of corrosive microclimates within mussel beds, with low oxygen and low pH becoming most severe under low-flow conditions and in dense, multilayer aggregations. We further showed that mussel gaping does not meaningfully compensate for these conditions, because pumping activity is largely decoupled from flow speed and does not sufficiently enhance flushing of interstitial spaces. These findings were integrated into a validated computational fluid dynamics model that predicts flow and dissolved oxygen and pH gradients within and above mussel beds.

Intellectual Merit. The project addressed a fundamental problem in marine ecology: predicting how foundation species and the ecosystems they support will respond to environmental change. We developed a generalizable framework that links coarse-scale environmental data to fine-scale water chemistry near dense benthic assemblages. The work revealed that the primary control on transport within mussel beds is physical resistance imposed by the aggregation itself, rather than behavioral mitigation by the organisms. Because the framework is grounded in fluid mechanics and functional traits, it is readily transferable to other ecosystem engineers such as oysters, corals, and macrophytes. This advances our ability to forecast species persistence, habitat quality, and ecosystem service delivery under future climate scenarios.

Broader Impacts. The project addresses urgent societal needs in aquaculture, coastal resource management, and infrastructure maintenance. The findings provide a basis for improving management of wild and farmed mussel populations and for developing better antifouling strategies for ships, moorings, and industrial cooling systems. The project also strengthened collaborations across institutions, including with a beginning investigator at a PUI, and provided interdisciplinary training for graduate students, REU students, undergraduates, and high school students. Outreach through a hands-on bivalve biology exhibit at a local shellfish farm promoted STEM education and environmental stewardship, and the results were shared broadly through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations.

 

Last Modified: 06/30/2026
Modified by: Emily Carrington