2 — Wednesday, December 16, 2015
The Journal of the San Juan Islands | SanJuanJournal.com
Hanging by a thread - secrets of mussel’s attachment By Elizabeth Cooney
WSG Communications Fellow, Washington Sea Grant
Though they’re less glamorous than oysters, mussels dominate rocky coastlines and support aquaculture worldwide. Now Washington Sea Grant-supported researchers at University of Washington’s Friday Harbor Labs are investigating potential climate-related threats to the amazingly tough mussel threads that anchor them to wave-pounded rocks and docks. The unassuming but commercially valuable mussel dominates temperate seas worldwide, clinging to rocks and docks by a cluster of thread-like anchors called the byssus or “the beard.” The byssus’s unique protein matrix gives each thread extraordinary strength, even in salt water. But will byssal threads still hold fast as the seas become warmer and more acidic? Supported by Washington Sea Grant, UW biology professor Emily Carrington is trying to answer that question and determine whether food supply and spawning may also affect byssal strength. The answers she’s finding aren’t simple, but they’re sometimes surprising. Carrington and her colleagues have found that impacts vary depending on mussel species. When temperature rises, the West Coast’s native Pacific blue mussel (Mytilus trossulus) grows fewer threads, but the naturalized Mediterranean mussel (M. galloprovincialis) grows more. The native California mussel (M. californianus) shows no change as waters warm, but is more sensitive to low pH and less resilient in low salinity. These results suggest that Mediterranean mussels may outcompete the native species as the ocean becomes warmer and more acidic.
Measuring byssal strength is a straightforward process; the researchers yank mussels from the rocks with a force gauge or stretch individual threads in a tensometer to determine extension and breaking point. Working with Carrington, graduate student Laura Newcomb has investigated byssal strength in laboratory experiments and field assessments. She found that byssal strength and elasticity decline when seawater pH drops below 7.6. Since pH ranges from just above 7.0 to well above 8.0 in the bays where the mussels grow, this threshold presents a real danger. Fortunately, 66°C, the temperature at which byssal strength drops off, is still well above the average temperatures in Puget Sound. The picture gets more complicated: pH and temperature seem to make less difference when mussels spawn, apparently because they’re already shifting energy to producing sperm and eggs rather than byssus. But for the mussels themselves the imperative is always simple: hold tight or die. That’s gotten the attention of Ian Jefferds, the general manager of the Penn Cove Shellfish Company on Washington’s Whidbey Island, where Carrington and Newcomb conduct their fieldwork. Jefferd’s operation remains healthy and seems sustainable, but he doesn’t take things for granted: “We don’t want a situation. Why wait for one to happen?” The effects of warming, acidifying waters on byssal strength have “important implications for a major global industry,” notes Carrington. Many countries, including China, Canada and Spain, grow even more mussels than the United States, and Carrington hopes her lab’s work will also benefit them. “What we’re learning here in Washington will be transferable to other industries.”
Community Church’s new pastor
– Submitted by Islands Community Church
Islands Community Church welcomed Pastor Carlos Barrios Gonzalez to San Juan Island this summer. Pastor Barrios and his family, shown above, moved from the North Chicago area where he had been working towards a Masters of Divinity degree for two years. He holds a bachelor of arts in Christian Ministry from Trinity International University and is a candidate for a masters of arts in Christian Studies at the Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Pastor Barrios has also had the opportunity to take classes towards a Doctorate in Ministry degree through Knox Theological Seminary. Carlos came to the U.S. from Cuba in 1980; his wife Marysol, originally from Colombia, lived in New York before moving to Miami. Carlos and Marysol met in Miami and were married in 1993. Their oldest daughter Pattris was
born in Florida; their three other children were born in Texas. All six family members are now living here on the island. Their oldest son Jonathan is working to save up money to finish college and his younger brother Jordan is working on finishing his high school through Griffin Bay. Valerie, the youngest, is a junior at Friday Harbor High School and part of their varsity girls’ soccer team. In Texas, Pastor Carlos served in church planting and started three Hispanic churches in the Southern Dallas area while he was attending the Criswell Bible College. In 2001, they moved closer to their families and Carlos had the opportunity to be co-pastor and youth pastor in Miami Lakes, Florida, where he was later ordained as pastor. Pastor Carlos understood the call; after all, his grandfather spent eight years in a Cuban prison because the Castro Regime saw all church leaders as enemies of the state.
This has always served as motivation for the Gonzalez family to boldly speak about their personal faith in Jesus Christ and led the men in the family to follow their grandfather’s footsteps. Currently Pastor Carlos’ uncle serves as a pastor in Cape Coral and his younger brother serves in Miami. The Barrios family is enjoying living in Friday Harbor and feels blessed to be serving in such a beautiful place. They would love the opportunity to meet you and would love for you to pay them a visit at Islands Community Church, Sundays at 10 a.m. Pastor Carlos feels very encouraged about the opportunity
to teach and share Gods’ biblical truths with us. “This is the reason I am here;” he says. “I want others to come to know the truths of Gods’ Word and to begin to live by them. Knowing God has had such an amazing impact on my life and has made such a difference in my family, I want others to come to know Him too.” In addition to being very passionate about his ministry opportunity, Pastor Carlos also enjoys physical activities like hiking and exploring. No, he won’t be able to play pond hockey like he did in Chicago. However, he will find more than enough to keep him busy.
Contributed photo
Dr. Emily Carrington explains byssal effects to Gov. Jay Inslee.
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