Dianna K Padilla

Stony Brook University | Stony Brook · Department of Ecology and Evolution

Ocean acidification (OA) caused by increased atmospheric carbon dioxide is affecting marine systems a globally and is more extreme in coastal waters. A wealth of research to determine how species will be affected by OA, now and in the future, is emerging. Most studies are discrete and generally do not include the full life cycle of animals. Studies...

Biomineralized structures in animals can undergo remodeling, altering the original construction of the structure. Remodeling such structures could enhance plastic inducible defenses and mitigate some hypothesized limits to adaptive phenotypic plasticity. Predator- induced shell thickening in marine snails, already a model for studies of adaptive pl...

Selection of food particles for consumption by larvae impacts nutritional gain needed for growth, development, and metamorphosis. Past work has suggested that molluscan larvae are capable of collecting food within a narrow size range. Recent studies have found evidence of size‐independent food selection in molluscan larvae, but relatively little is...

Predator induced responses by prey can reduce risk, however, newly introduced predators may not elicit the same predator responses, thus making prey more vulnerable to these new predators. Therefore, examining responses of different prey populations of the same species to a non-native predator may provide novel insights for the evolution of predato...

Inequality in the distribution of material resources (wealth) occurs widely across human groups. The extent of inequality, as measured by the Gini coefficient, is less in small-scale societies, such as hunter-gatherers and pastoralists, and greater in large-scale ones like current nation states. In many societies, the statistical distribution of we...

Overharvest of the once highly abundant northern quahog, or hard clam [Mercenaria mercenaria (Linnaeus, 1758)], has decimated local populations on Long Island, NY, and the ecosystem services they provide. Among the potential ecological consequences of the loss of hard clams, impacts on benthic community structure and function have not been well doc...

A wide range of taxa have been shown to display inducible, phenotypically plastic responses to known predators. Most studies of inducible defenses include only known predators but not non-predatory species in experimental designs, precluding tests of specificity for these responses. We tested the specificity of predator-induced defenses in the mari...

The goal of this article was to use a systematic review of studies on the larval stages of gastropods reared to metamorphosis to determine whether there are general patterns for the effects of temperature, rearing density, and food availability on larval development and performance among species, major taxa, and modes of development. Most studies d...

Human activity has dramatically accelerated both species extinctions and introductions, and the balance of these two processes is generally expected to reduce biodiversity and increase taxonomic homogenization. However, few tests of this hypothesis have been made. We tested whether new macroinvertebrate invaders in North American freshwaters can re...

This study examined the scaling of the radula of the Atlantic slippersnail Crepidula fornicata with body size. As a suspension feeder, the prediction was that the radula may be more important (longer relative to body size) for younger animals, as younger animals are likely to also graze the benthos whereas adults primarily suspension feed. Smaller...

Foreword [McIsaac, Hugh] Preface - [Boltovskoy, Demetrio] Acknowledgments [Boltovskoy, Demetrio] Table of Contents Author list PART I Biology 1 The biology and anatomy of Limnoperna fortunei, significant freshwater bio-invader: blueprints for success [Morton, Brian] 2 Larval development of Limnoperna fortunei [Cataldo, Daniel] 3 Parasites of Limnop...

Limnoperna fortunei (the golden mussel), Dreissena polymorpha (the zebra mussel), and Dreissena rostriformis bugensis (the quagga mussel) are considered among the most aggressive freshwater invaders. All three species share several biological traits, such as their sessile mode of life attached to hard substrata by a byssus (although quagga mussels...

Dreissena polymorpha (zebra mussel) and D. rostriformis bugensis (quagga mussel) continue to spread in Europe and in North America, and have large ecological and economic impacts where they invade. Today many more waterbodies are invaded by zebra mussels, and therefore the extent of their impact is greater than that of quagga mussels. Both species...

Understanding factors controlling the introduction and spread of species is crucial to improving the management of both natural populations and introduced species. The zebra mussel, Dreissena polymorpha, is considered the most aggressive freshwater invader in the Northern Hemisphere, and is a convenient model system for invasion biology, offering o...

Animals are complex systems operating at multiple spatial and temporal scales, facing the challenge of how to change in appropriate ways, degrees, and times, in response to the diverse internal and external influences to which they are exposed. Discovering the system-level attributes of organisms that make them resilient or robust—or sensitive or f...

Food quality and quantity, as well as temperature, are all factors that are expected to affect rates of development, and are likely to be affected by expected climatic change. We tested the effect of a mixed diet versus a single-food diet on metamorphic competence in the emerging model species Crepidula fornicata. We then compared our results with...

An age-old conflict around a seemingly simple question has resurfaced: why do we conserve nature? Contention around this issue has come and gone many times, but in the past several years we believe that it has reappeared as an increasingly acrimonious debate between, in essence, those who argue that nature should be protected for its own sake (intr...

Understanding whether factors important for species establishment in a local community are predictable or context- dependent is key for determining the features that affect community stability and species coexistence. A major challenge for scientists addressing this question is that natural systems are complex. This makes it difficult to test multi...

The amount of knowledge in the biological sciences is growing at an exponential rate. Simultaneously, the incorporation of new technologies in gathering scientific information has greatly accelerated our capacity to ask, and answer, new questions. How do we, as organismal biologists, meet these challenges, and develop research strategies that will...

Many of the most interesting questions in organismal biology, especially those involving the functional and adaptive significance of organismal characteristics, intrinsically transcend levels of biological organization. These organismal functions typically involve multiple interacting biological mechanisms. We suggest that subdisciplinary advances...

Observations are presented to elucidate the complex and highly efficient feeding mechanisms and habits in the common Atlantic slippersnail, Crepidula fornicata. Using a newly designed video system coupled with video endoscopy and microscopic observations, collection of food particles throughout the feeding cycle was documented. The process is descr...

Many marine invertebrates have planktonic larvae with cilia used for both propulsion and capturing of food particles. Hence, changes in ciliary activity have implications for larval nutrition and ability to navigate the water column, which in turn affect survival and dispersal. Using high-speed high-resolution microvideography, we examined the rela...

In recent years, quagga mussels (Dreissena rostriformis bugensis) have almost completely replaced zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) in the Lower Great Lakes. As recreational boats are the main vector of spread for dreissenids in North America, this study examined whether lakes Erie and Ontario could still be sources for the spread of zebra musse...

The zebra mussel, Dreissena polymorpha, and quagga mussel, Dreissena rostriformis bugensis, are both important invaders in freshwaters of the Northern Hemisphere. These two invaders have similar life habits and life-history characteristics but differ in timing and rates of spread, habitat requirements, growth, and population dynamics. While the zeb...

Marine organisms provide some of the most important examples of phenotypic plasticity to date. We conducted a systematic review to cast a wide net through the literature to examine general patterns among marine taxa and to identify gaps in our knowledge. Unlike terrestrial systems, most studies of plasticity are on animals and fewer on plants and a...

We investigate potential microevolutionary mechanisms of phenotypic change in a lineage of brackish-water gastropods from Lake Pannon. The lineage exhibits a threefold increase in body size and a pronounced increase in shell shouldering over a roughly 2.5-Myr interval. We use the stable oxygen isotope profiles of 13 shells to address the question o...

Knowledge of the abiotic and biotic factors that control the development of marine invertebrate larvae is essential for successful laboratory culture, as well as the understanding of the population dynamics of marine organisms. Food availability is a key regulator of larval fitness, and competition for food may arise if larval densities are high. H...

Each year I am astounded when I ask students how many have been to the shore in the past year. Although one cannot live on Long Island and be more than 12 mi from a coastline, over half of the class has not visited the water. Nature and humans are not separate, and finding ways to increase appreciation and awareness of the value of functioning ecos...

Aquatic communities are one of the most studied systems where alternative states or regime shifts have been detected. We used data spanning a century of time to test whether the zoobenthic community of Lake Mendota, Wisconsin, USA, was relatively stable through time, variable, or whether there was any evidence of alternative community states. We us...

Examining congeners can help identify critical differences between species that affect invasion and spread. We examined Dreissena polymorpha (zebra mussel) and Dreissena rostriformis bugensis (quagga mussel), which are important invaders in freshwater and share general ecological characteristics, to determine whether they had similar rates of invas...

Metabolic rate is one of the most frequently measured physiological variables and the relationship between oxygen uptake and body mass is one of the most controversial issues in biology. The present study used closed chamber respirometry to compare the oxygen uptake of 32 species of benthic British gastropod molluscs of a wide size-range (from less...

The zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) and its congener the quagga mussel (Dreissena rostriformis bugensis) are both invaders in freshwater, but have very different invasion histories, with zebra mussels attaining substantially faster rates of spread at virtually all spatial scales. However, in waterbodies where they co-occur, D. r. bugensis can d...

The European zebra mussel, Dreissena polymorpha (Pallas), has recently been introduced to North American freshwaters. Dreissena exhibits a wide range of population dynamics among different European lakes. In some lakes, long-term population size is fairly constant, while populations in other lakes can fluctuate greatly from year to year. Assessment...

Several lists of grand challenges in biology have been published recently, highlighting the strong need to answer fundamental questions about how life evolves and is governed, and how to apply this knowledge to solve the pressing problems of our times. To succeed in addressing the challenges of 21st century biology, scientists need to generate, hav...

This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Integrative and Comparative Biology following peer review. The version of record [Tsukimura, B., H.V. Carey and D.K. Padilla. 2010. Workshop on the Implementation of the Grand Challenges. Intetgrative Comparative Biology 50: 945-947] is available online at: http...

Background/Question/Methods Comparisons of congeners can be a useful tool for determining factors that affect invasiveness in introduces species, as it allow for a control of many other factors that are likely to differ among species. Dreissena polymorpha (zebra mussel) and D. rostriformis bugensis (quagga mussel) are closely related, have simila...

The introduction of non-native species represents unprecedented large-scale experiments that allow us to examine ecological systems in ways that would otherwise not be possible. Invasion by novel ecological types into a community can press a system beyond the bounds normally seen and can reveal community interactions, local drivers and limits withi...

Understanding population dynamics and population regulation of invasive species is critical for predicting their effects on native ecosystems as well as for control strategies. Many species of gastropod in the genus Pomacea are successful aquatic invaders that have caused economic and ecological impacts in Southeastern Asia where their large fecund...

We assembled information on 119 species of freshwater macroinvertebrate invaders in North America and Europe, and compared them to all native freshwater species in North America and Europe. We tested whether the invaders were a random or selected group among taxa (phylum or class), water quality requirements, and feeding habit. We found that freshw...

A renaissance in organismal biology has been sparked by recent conceptual, theoretical, methodological, and computational advances in the life sciences, along with an unprecedented interdisciplinary integration with Mathematics, Engineering, and the physical sciences. Despite a decades-long trend toward reductionist approaches to biological problem...

The apple snail Pomacea insularum is an aquatic invasive gastropod native to South America that has the potential to cause harm to aquatic ecosystems, wetland restoration, and agriculture. To predict the potential impact of this snail on aquatic ecosystems, we tested the feeding rate of P. insularum, under laboratory nonchoice experiments, for 3 sp...

Bivalve larvae in mixed samples collected from the field have traditionally been identified through morphological differences among species. It is difficult, however, to use this method accurately because of overlapping size ranges and similar shapes of the larvae of many species. We used the molecular technique developed by Hare et al. (2000) to t...

Spawner sanctuaries, harvest-free areas planted with high densities of adult clams, are currently being used to restore self-sustaining populations of Mercenaria mercenaria (L.) to Great South Bay, New York. To evaluate and guide this restoration, we monitored the condition and spawning of clams transplanted from two source locations in Long Island...

Marine invertebrates often have complex life histories that include a swimming planktivorous larval stage, at which time they are vulnerable to a variety of stressors, including those associated with nutritional stress and harmful algal blooms. Lipid stores have been shown to be especially important for post-metamorphic survivorship and growth in a...

We examined the patterns of distribution, vectors of introduction, and potential ecological impacts of freshwater exotic species in Texas over the last 45years. Currently, five species of exotic gastropods are established: channeled-type applesnail (Pomacea insularum), red-rim melania (Melanoides tuberculatus), quilted melania (Tarebia granifera),...

We contrast ecological and life history traits of the well studied freshwater invader, the zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha), with the lesser known invasive golden mussel (Limnoperna fortunei) to compare salient biological traits and environmental limits, and to predict the potential spread and ecosystem impacts of L. fortunei in areas where it i...

The globalization of economies and trade have facilitated the spread of exotic species including the five most important freshwater suspension feeding invaders Dreissena polymorpha, D. bugensis, Corbicula fluminea, C. fluminalis, and Limnoperna fortunei. We suggest that the spread of these exotic species has not been a continuous process, but rathe...

Since the collapse of populations of northern quahogs (hard clam), Mercenaria mercenaria, in Long Island bays, brown tide blooms have been proposed to pose a barrier to recovery. We tested whether the brown tide alga, Aureococcus anophagefferens, affects survivorship, development or growth in the larvae of M. mercenaria. There was no effect of A. a...

Dreissena polymorpha population densities and biomass were followed in three Belarusian lakes with different trophic status over a 12-year period subsequent to initial colonization. In all three lakes zebra mussel population densities did not change once they reached a maximum. Application of the Ramcharan etal. [1992. Canadian Journal of Fisheries...

Complex life-histories are common in nature, have many important biological consequences, and are an important focal area for integrative biology. For organisms with complex life-histories, a legacy is something handed down from an ancestor or previous stage, and can be genetic, nutritional/provisional, experiential, as well as the result of random...

Invasive species threaten marine biodiversity on a global scale. To test whether marine reserves provide resistance to invading species, the abundance of two conspicuous invaders, a seaweed and an oyster, were measured inside marine reserves and in comparable areas outside reserves in north‐western Washington State. Densities of both invaders were...

Although zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) have invaded waters across Europe for over 200 years, they colonized Ireland only within the past decade. To test the hypothesis that Ireland was colonized by adult D. polymorpha, we examined mussels from different sites along the Lower Shannon River system in Ireland for the presence of host specific a...

We review the variety of methods that have been used over the last 50 y in the Former Soviet Union, Eastern and Western Europe, and recently in North America to determine growth rate and longevity in zebra mussels (Dreissena polyrnorpha [Pallas]). These methods include: counting annual rings, analysis of size-frequency distributions, following grow...

Dreissena polymorpha and Corbicula fluminea are among the most aggressive freshwater invaders world wide, and often dominate water bodies they invade. They occur in similar habitats, however, their tolerance and preference for certain characteristics of freshwaters differ in important ways, and they can have different impacts on the environments th...

Dreissena is extremely abundant in waters it invades, and dramatically changes benthic invertebrate communities in terms of total biomass, species composition, and the relative abundance of functional groups. We analyzed the relative abundance of feeding functional groups of the benthic community before and after zebra mussel invasion in three Bela...

Phenotypic plasticity is widespread in nature, and often involves ecologically relevant behavioral, physiological, morphological and life-historical traits. As a result, plasticity alters numerous interactions between organisms and their abiotic and biotic environments. Although much work on plasticity has focused on its patterns of expression and...

Dreissena polymorpha is one of the most aggressive aquatic invasive species in the northern hemisphere. Its ability to tolerate both brackish and totally fresh waters and to attach to hard substrates, along with its long-lived larval dispersal phase make it unusual among freshwater bivalves and contribute to its success as an invader. Because zebra...

Chapter 9. Suspension-Feeders as Factors Influencing Water Quality in Aquatic Ecosystems; https://www.researchgate.net/publication/226658106.; Table of Contents 1. Modelling particle selection efficiencyof bivalve suspension feeders P Zemlys, and D Daunys……………………………………………………….……...…..….1 2. Field measurements on the variability in biodeposition a...

In our recent article in TREE (1), we considered the evidence for the common assumption that invaders are a major cause of species extinction. Ricciardi (2) criticized the focus of our paper, and challenged our statement that the role of zebra mussels Dreissena polymorpha in unionid mussel extinctions is unclear. Like Ricciardi (2), we recognize an...

The link between species invasions and the extinction of natives is widely accepted by scientists as well as conservationists, but available data supporting invasion as a cause of extinctions are, in many cases, anecdotal, speculative and based upon limited observation. We pose the question, are aliens generally responsible for widespread extinctio...

Understanding the entire life history, especially critical periods during the life cycle of a species, is impor- tant tor understanding population dynamics and is crucial tor control of nuisance species. Errors in estimates of growth rales and recruitment in field and modeling .studies are likeiy to occur if one assumes uniform ralher than size- or...

Embayments and tidal flow can affect the population structure of organisms, such as the zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha), that have a planktonic larval phase. To examine the potential retention of larvae in embayments in tidal rivers and predict the effect of embayments on transport in the river, a field experiment was conducted and a quasi one-...