Experimentally determined Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca ratios in juvenile bivalve calcite for Mytilus edulis: implications for paleotemperature reconstructions

To further evaluate the potential use of Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca ratios as a paleothermometer in the shell carbonate of the blue mussel Mytilus edulis, we grew juvenile mussels (∼15 mm shell height; <2 years old) collected from Maine, USA, in controlled environments for 4 months. The four-by-three factorial design consisted of four circulating temperature baths (7, 11, 15 and 19°C), and three salinity ranges (23, 28, and 32). During the experiment, water Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca molar ratios were monitored weekly, and showed little variation across all salinity and temperature ranges. Data from sampled shells including all salinity treatments yielded relatively poor relationships between shell elemental chemistry and water temperatures. However, if only the low salinity treatment data (23) are used, the relationships between shell elemental chemistry and water temperature improve moderately. Based on the data presented here, it may be possible to use Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca ratios from the shell carbonate of juvenile M. edulis to reconstruct paleotemperatures in estuarine settings (salinity below 24) with a corresponding RMSE (root mean squared error; 95% confidence interval) of ±2.4°C and ±2.8°C, respectively. In order for this methodology to be statistically meaningful, water temperature changes must be rather large, as the errors associated with using Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca ratios from the shell material of M. edulis are substantial. Further work is required to determine if the findings presented here can be duplicated, and if the potential salinity effect is pervasive.

[1]  C. Weidman,et al.  Correction to “The long-lived mollusc Arctica islandica: A new paleoceanographic tool for the reconstruction of bottom temperatures for the continental shelves of the northern North Atlantic Ocean” by Christopher R. Weidman, Glenn A. Jones, and Kyger C. Lohmann , 1994 .

[2]  M. Carré,et al.  Calcification rate influence on trace element concentrations in aragonitic bivalve shells: Evidences and mechanisms , 2006 .

[3]  A. Lorrain,et al.  Shell of the Great Scallop Pecten maximus as a high‐frequency archive of paleoenvironmental changes , 2005 .

[4]  E. Bonucci.  Calcification in Biological Systems , 1992 .

[5]  G. P. Lohmann,et al.  Incorporation and preservation of Mg in Globigerinoides sacculifer: implications for reconstructing the temperature and 18O/16O of seawater , 2000 .

[6]  Frank Dehairs,et al.  Stable carbon isotopic composition of Mytilus edulis shells: relation to metabolism, salinity, δ13CDIC and phytoplankton , 2006 .

[7]  T. Ku,et al.  OXYGEN AND CARBON ISOTOPE FRACTIONATION IN BIOGENIC ARAGONITE: TEMPERATURE EFFECTS , 1986 .

[8]  P. deMenocal,et al.  Environmental controls on the stable isotopic composition of Mercenaria mercenaria: Potential application to paleoenvironmental studies , 2003 .

[9]  M. Bender,et al.  The impact of solution chemistry on Mytilus edulis calcite and aragonite , 1980 .

[10]  B. Schöne,et al.  Coupled North Atlantic slope water forcing on Gulf of Maine temperatures over the past millennium , 2008 .

[11]  R. K. Koehn.  The genetics and taxonomy of species in the genus Mytilus , 1991 .

[12]  C. Dai,et al.  The calibration of D[Sr/Ca] versus sea-surface temperature relationship for , 1996 .

[13]  Hilary Kennedy,et al.  Environmental and biological controls on elemental (Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca and Mn/Ca) ratios in shells of the king scallop Pecten maximus , 2006 .

[14]  C. Richardson.  An Analysis of the Microgrowth Bands in the Shell of the Common Mussel Mytilus Edulis , 1989, Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom.

[15]  A. Lorrain,et al.  Strong kinetic effects on Sr/Ca ratios in the calcitic bivalve Pecten maximus , 2005 .

[16]  A. Geen,et al.  Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca, and stable isotopes in modern and Holocene Protothaca staminea shells from a northern California coastal upwelling region , 2004 .

[17]  Luc André,et al.  High-resolution trace element profiles in shells of the mangrove bivalve Isognomon ephippium: a record of environmental spatio-temporal variations? , 2003 .

[18]  Douglas S. Jones,et al.  Ecological and paleoenvironmental information using stable isotope profiles from living and fossil molluscs , 1987 .

[19]  H. Kennedy,et al.  from the fan mussel Pinna nobilis : Seasonal records and temperature relationships , 2005 .

[20]  J. Dodd.  Environmental control of strontium and magnesium in Mytilus , 1965 .

[21]  Luc André,et al.  Barium uptake into the shells of the common mussel (Mytilus edulis) and the potential for estuarine paleo-chemistry reconstruction , 2006 .

[22]  C. Weidman,et al.  The long‐lived mollusc Arctica islandica: A new paleoceanographic tool for the reconstruction of bottom temperatures for the continental shelves of the northern North Atlantic Ocean , 1994 .

[23]  P. Rawson,et al.  Experimental Determination of Salinity, Temperature, Growth, and Metabolic Effects on Shell Isotope Chemistry of Mytilus edulis Collected from Maine and Greenland , 2007 .

[24]  R. Klein,et al.  Bivalve skeletons record sea-surface temperature and δ18O via Mg/Ca and 18O/16O ratios , 1996 .

[25]  Douglas S. Jones.  Annual cycle of shell growth increment formation in two continental shelf bivalves and its paleoecologic significance , 1980, Paleobiology.

[26]  D. Lea,et al.  Controls on magnesium and strontium uptake in planktonic foraminifera determined by live culturing , 1999 .

[27]  C. Emiliani.  Isotopic paleotemperatures. , 1966, Science.

[28]  Samuel Epstein,et al.  REVISED CARBONATE-WATER ISOTOPIC TEMPERATURE SCALE , 1953 .

[29]  E. C. Pielou.  Population and Community Ecology. , 1976 .

[30]  J. Beck,et al.  Sea-Surface Temperature from Coral Skeletal Strontium/Calcium Ratios , 1992, Science.

[31]  H. Elderfield,et al.  Past temperature and δ18O of surface ocean waters inferred from foraminiferal Mg/Ca ratios , 2000, Nature.

[32]  R. Witbaard,et al.  Geographical differences in growth rates of Arctica islandica (Mollusca: Bivalvia) from the North Sea and adjacent waters , 1999, Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom.

[33]  R. Klein,et al.  and ratios in skeletal calcite of Mytilus trossulus: Covariation with metabolic rate, salinity, and carbon isotopic composition of seawater , 1996 .

[34]  H. Borns,et al.  An aquaculture‐based method for calibrated bivalve isotope paleothermometry , 2006 .

[35]  M. Arthur,et al.  Sclerochronological records of temperature and growth from shells of Mercenaria mercenaria from Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island , 1989 .

[36]  B. Schöne,et al.  North Atlantic Oscillation dynamics recorded in shells of a long-lived bivalve mollusk , 2003 .

[37]  A. Lorrain,et al.  Strong biological controls on Sr/Ca ratios in aragonitic marine bivalve shells , 2005 .

[38]  A. P. Wheeler.  Mechanisms of Molluscan Shell Formation , 2020 .

[39]  J. Dodd,et al.  Non-linear variation with salinity of Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca ratios in water and aragonitic bivalve shells and implications for paleosalinity studies , 1982 .

[40]  G. Clark.  Shell Growth in the Marine Environment: Approaches to the Problem of Marginal Calcification , 1976 .

[41]  Raymond B. Seed,et al.  Population and community ecol-ogy of Mytilus , 1992 .

[42]  C. Richardson.  Molluscs as archives of environmental change. , 2001 .

[43]  B. Schöne,et al.  Climate records from a bivalved Methuselah (Arctica islandica, Mollusca; Iceland) , 2005 .

[44]  T. Quinn,et al.  A multiproxy approach to reconstructing sea surface conditions using coral skeleton geochemistry , 2002 .

[45]  Hans-Peter Schertl,et al.  Geochim. cosmochim. acta , 1989 .