Layering, the effective density of mussels and mass‐density boundary curves

Overall intraspecific mass‐density patterns have seldom been explored in animals. Instead, self‐thinning studies have predominated. The analysis of 253 samples in a multilayered mussel showed that the classical approach is biased by layering or crowding effects, suggesting a transition zone between density independence and self‐thinning, without a C–D effect. However, when the effective density (density corrected by layer effect) is used, space/allometric constraint expectations are met. Layering and crowding effects on self‐thinning and the mass‐density boundary should be common in mussels and other taxa showing aggregated distributions.