Effects of environmental stress on intertidal mussels and their sea star predators

@article{Petes2008EffectsOE,
  title={Effects of environmental stress on intertidal mussels and their sea star predators},
  author={Laura E. Petes and Morgan E. Mouchka and Ruth Milston-Clements and Tracey S. Momoda and Bruce A. Menge},
  journal={Oecologia},
  year={2008},
  volume={156},
  pages={671-680}
}
Consumer stress models of ecological theory predict that predators are more susceptible to stress than their prey. Intertidal mussels, Mytilus californianus, span a vertical stress gradient from the low zone (lower stress) to the high zone (higher thermal and desiccation stress), while their sea star predators, Pisaster ochraceus, range from the low zone only into the lower edge of the mussel zone. In summer 2003, we tested the responses of sea stars and mussels to environmental stress in an… 
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