These native California creatures are unusually well adapted for climate change
The tiny native oysters of San Francisco Bay managed to outlive the Gold Rush, bay-shore development and decades of punishing pollution. New research shows they have a fighting chance to survive global warming as well. … In recent years, extreme heat waves killed thousands of shellfish that inhabit the same type of intertidal zone, including mussels that were baked in their shells in both the Pacific Northwest and Northern California during low tide. Scientists involved with oyster restoration were really concerned when that happened, said Chela Zabin, ecologist at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center and one of two dozen co-authors on the study. … The study, which was published last month and involved significant team effort in 26 locations up and down the West Coast, with funding from the nonprofit organization the Nature Conservancy, showed that native oysters thrive in a wide range of habitats.