Throughout Europe the blue mussel Mytilus edulis is dominant in the north while the Mediterranean mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis prevails in the south. Studies from the 1970s to the late 2000′s documented the northward range expansion of M. galloprovincialis in Europe and predicted this trend to continue with climate change. The objectives of this study were to sample predominantly wild mussels (n = 1459) at twenty-four Irish intertidal sites over a seven year period and at three Welsh sites to investigate (a) the abundance and distribution of Mytilus spp., identified molecularly by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and (b) compare with historical observations, at Irish sites where M. galloprovincialis was observed to be more abundant than M. edulis. Mussels were sampled more than once at certain sites to investigate if there was a temporal effect. The findings of this study indicated that M. edulis was consistently the most abundant species, followed by hybrids and M. galloprovincialis. At certain sites, hybrids were detected while M. galloprovincialis was absent. This finding may indicate transient M. galloprovinicialis populations or input from individuals subtidally. One factor that may be of importance was the anomalous cold winter “polar snaps” (2010 and 2011) that occurred during this study. In addition, heavy precipitation events and subsequent increased freshwater loading in bays and estuaries also occurred during this time period. Future warming climate scenarios have been predicted to facilitate the northwards establishment of M. galloprovincialis, however, nearshore meteorological extremes may have an impact in its larval settlement, establishment and subsequent reproductive output.

在整个欧洲，蓝色贻贝贻贝在北部占主导地位，而地中海贻贝galilprovincialis在南部占主导地位。从1970年代到2000年代后期的研究记录了欧洲M. galloprovincialis向北扩展的趋势，并预测这种趋势将随着气候变化而持续。这项研究的目的是在7年的时间里，在24个爱尔兰潮间带和三个威尔士地区采样主要是野生贻贝（n = 1459），以调查（a）由分子鉴定的Mytilus spp。的丰度和分布。聚合酶链反应（PCR），以及（b）与历史观察结果进行比较，在爱尔兰的Galloprovincialis地区被观察到比食用蓝藻更为丰富。在某些地点对贻贝进行了多次采样，以调查是否存在时间效应。这项研究的结果表明，可食的支原体一直是最丰富的物种，其次是杂种和galoprovincialis。在某些地方，在不存在鸡莫氏疟原虫的情况下检测到杂种。这一发现可能表明短暂的鸡支原体人口或个人的投入。可能重要的一个因素是本研究期间发生的异常寒冷的冬季“极地暴发”（2010年和2011年）。此外，在此期间，也发生了强降雨事件，随后海湾和河口的淡水负荷增加。据预测，未来变暖的气候情景将有利于加洛普罗旺斯猪笼草的向北建立，但是近岸气象极端事件可能对其幼虫的定居，建立和随后的繁殖输出产生影响。