Barnacles Commensal with Rare Hosts: Are they Putting all their Eggs in One Basket?
John Zardus, Dept. of Biology, The Citadel
2 Oct 2009
Barnacles that live attached to other organisms as commensals are often specific in associating with a single host species. The particular substratum required by these epibionts is a rare commodity, especially since many hosts are mobile and may include threatened or endangered species of marine mammals and sea turtles. Life-history summaries, questions, and conundrums concerning these organisms will be introduced followed by results of lab and field studies. The latter include experiments testing recruitment rates in the field and larval settlement preferences along with molecular-genetic studies showing unexpected host plasticity for some species. An overview of phenotypic diversity within the group will be presented and discussed in the context of the chronology of host evolution.