Demographic regulation processes in Pinna nobilis population subunits: Implications for restocking

A mass mortality event (MME) affected the endemic bivalve Pinna nobilis across the Mediterranean Sea in autumn 2016. This event affected specimens of all sizes, depth ranges and habitat types, resulting in a drastic decline in the species population close to 100%. Indeed, the consequences of a potential recovery, and therefore the viability of the populations of the species are unknown. To evaluate the likelihood of success when designing the reintroduction of the species in optimal areas, knowledge of population dynamics is essential. Here we compare two population subunits of Pinna nobilis from two areas with different environmental conditions, located in Cabrera National Park (protected area with low exposure to hydrodynamic activity) and San Telmo (unprotected area exposed to hydrodynamic activity), both in the Balearic Islands. A total of 259 individuals were tagged and monitored annually between 2011 and 2014, prior to the MME. Matrix population models were used to reduce the complexity of the age-structured population dynamics and assessing the degree of elasticity of the population. We showed that the subunit of San Telmo showed highly variable values of demographic rates, higher stochasticity and higher sensitivity to environmental variability than the population subunit of Cabrera National Park. The study shows the importance of the buffering effect of a large population as there are many adult individuals of many size classes in the population subunit of Cabrera National Park, as its age structure helps to cope with highly variable reproductive success. Therefore, these population subunits are more stable regardless of depth and would be a more suitable site for future reintroduction programs.