Human-harvested shellfish from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History research collections. (IMAGE)
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In a new study, scientists Stewart Edie of the Smithsonian, Shan Huang of the University of Birmingham and colleagues drastically expanded the list of bivalve species, such as clams, oysters, mussels, scallops and their relatives, that humans are known to harvest and identified the traits that make these species prime targets for harvesting. They also discovered that some of these same traits have also made this group of shellfish less prone to extinction in the past and may protect these shellfish in the future. The authors flagged certain ocean regions, such as the east Atlantic and northeast and southeast Pacific, as areas of special concern for management and conservation. The research, published today in Nature Communications, finds that humans exploit some 801 species of bivalves. That figure adds 720 species to the 81 listed in the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ Production Database, calling attention to the huge diversity of shellfish humans are known to harvest and use. These species live in a range of climates all over the world, with a wide range of temperatures. This adaptability promotes resilience against natural drivers of extinction. But at the same time, human demand for these species can put them and the ecosystems they are part of at greater risk of destruction.
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Brittany M. Hance and James D. Tiller, Smithsonian.
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