"PENN COVE, Wash. – Cookie tray in hand and lifejacket around chest, Laura Newcomb looks more like a confused baker than a marine biologist. But the University of Washington researcher is dressed for work.

Her job: testing how mussels in this idyllic bay, home to the nation’s largest harvester of mussels, are affected by changing ocean conditions, especially warmer and more acidic waters. It’s a question critical to the future of mussel farmers in the region. More important, it's key to understanding whether climate change threatens mussels around the world, as well as to the food chains mussels support and protect in the wild.

'Along the West Coast, mussels are well-known ecosystem engineers,' said Bruce Menge, an Oregon State University researcher who studies how climate impacts coastal ecosystems. 'They provide habitat for dozens of species, they provide food for many predators and occupy a large amount of space, so are truly a 'dominant' species.'"

Miguel Llanos reports for the Daily Climate September 9, 2014. [2]