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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Sofia Franco, Dr Nicholas Aldred, Professor Tony Clare
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
Although recruitment patterns of Pollicipes pollicipes (Crustacea: Scalpelliformes) in the wild have been investigated, no studies have yet focused on the factors that affect settlement. In the present paper, settlement of P. pollicipes on conspecifics (gregarious settlement) was investigated in the laboratory as a function of environmental conditions (hydrodynamics, temperature, light and salinity), larval age and batch. This study aimed to understand how these factors modulate settlement in the laboratory and elucidate how they might impact recruitment patterns in nature. Maximum attachment on adults was 30-35%, with a one-week metamorphosis rate of 70-80%. Batch differences affected both attachment and metamorphosis. Attachment rate was higher at natural salinity (30-40 psu), with lower salinity (20 psu) decreasing metamorphosis rate. Cyprid attachment was stimulated by light conditions and circulating water. This might relate to a preference for positioning high in the water column in nature, but also to increased cyprid-surface contact in conditions of circulating water. Older cyprids (3 or 6 days) showed higher attachment than un-aged larvae, though fewer 6-day-old larvae metamorphosed. Temperature did not affect attachment rate, but the metamorphosis rate decreased at 14°C (compared with 17 or 20°C), implying that differences in temperature during the breeding season can affect how quickly cyprids metamorphose to the juvenile. Cyprids survived for prolonged periods (≥20 days; 40% survival), likely due to efficient energy saving by intercalating long periods of inactivity with fast bursts of activity upon stimulation.
Author(s): Franco SC, Aldred N, Cruz T, Clare AS
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Scientia Marina
Year: 2016
Volume: 80
Issue: 2
Pages: 217-228
Online publication date: 03/06/2016
Acceptance date: 04/04/2016
Date deposited: 15/06/2016
ISSN (print): 0214-8358
ISSN (electronic): 1886-8134
Publisher: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3989/scimar.04342.01A
DOI: 10.3989/scimar.04342.01A
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