Air temperature and winter mortality: Implications for the persistence of the invasive mussel, Perna viridis in the intertidal zone of the south-eastern United States

► P. viridis underwent a mortality event in Tampa Bay Florida during winter 2007/08. ► Cold air temperature stress and not water temperature was the likely driver of this mortality event. ► Extreme weather may be responsible for population retreat in the short-term. ► Climate change will likely cause poleward extensions in the long-term.