The frilled dog winkle may sound like a complex knot for a tie, but this local sea snail holds clues to our warmer future, including a dire outlook for species that can’t move, adapt, or acclimate as fast as their environment heats up.
Strait of Georgia Hotspot
To figure out how location affects vulnerability to a changing climate, UBC zoology researchers Drs. Fiona Beaty and Chris Harley collected marine snails from the Strait of Georgia, a potential hot spot of climate risk, and the Central Coast, where waters are cooler and warming more slowly.
They monitored snails in the lab, in water heated to current and future projected sea temperatures, and in the field along shorelines.
Read more at University of British Columbia
Image: Nucella lamellosa or frilled dogwinkles. (Photo credit: Dr. Christopher Harley via University of British Columbia)