Abstract
Gooseneck barnacles of the genus Lepas are sessile crustaceans settling and growing on free-floating substrata. They can be used as indicators for floating time of objects such as plastic, algae, airplane wrecks or human corpses. Precise estimates of floating time are only possible when accurate growth rates of Lepas are known. However, many factors modulate the growth of these crustaceans, making floating time estimates difficult. In this study, we measured growth rates of L. australis and L. anatifera in the Central Humboldt Current System over two consecutive summer and winter seasons. Growth patterns were best described by a logistic growth curve. Using the asymptotic value (maximum size) for each species and each season, we selected the linear phase of growth to fit simple predictive linear models to estimate floating time. Growth rates of L. anatifera were almost twice as high in the warmer summer months compared to the winter season suggesting that growth rates are strongly associated with temperature. Consequently, seasonal or regional growth rates are required to precisely estimate floating time of objects at sea.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The data is available in the electronic supplement.
References
Al-Qattan N, Herbert GS, Spero HJ, McCarthy S, McGeady R, Tao R, Power A-M (2023) A stable isotope sclerochronology-based forensic method for reconstructing debris drift paths with application to the MH370 crash. AGU Advances. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023AV000915
Anderson D (1994) Barnacles: structure, function, development, and evolution. Chapman & Hall
Angilletta MJ, Niewiarowski PH, Navas CA (2002) The evolution of thermal physiology in ectotherms. J Therm Biol 27(4):249–268. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0306-4565(01)00094-8
Aravena G, Broitman B, Stenseth NC (2014) Twelve years of change in coastal upwelling along the central-northern coast of Chile: spatially heterogeneous responses to climatic variability. PLoS ONE 9(2):e90276. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0090276
Barnes DKA (2002) Invasions by marine life on plastic debris. Nature 416(6883):808–809. https://doi.org/10.1038/416808a
Barnes H, Powell HT (1950) The development, general morphology and subsequent elimination of barnacle populations, Balanus crenatus and B. balanoides, after a heavy initial settlement. J Anim Ecol 19(2):175–179. https://doi.org/10.2307/1526
Barnes DKA, Galgani F, Thompson RC, Barlaz M (2009) Accumulation and fragmentation of plastic debris in global environments. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 364(1526):1985–1998. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2008.0205
Barry PJ, Beraud C, Wood LE, Tidbury HJ (2023) Modelling of marine debris pathways into UK waters: example of non-native crustaceans transported across the Atlantic Ocean on floating marine debris. Mar Pollut Bull 186:114388. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.114388
Bartlett JC, Convey P, Hughes KA, Thorpe SE, Hayward SAL (2021) Ocean currents as a potential dispersal pathway for Antarctica’s most persistent non-native terrestrial insect. Polar Biol 44(1):209–216. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-020-02792-2
Bertness MD, Gaines SD, Bermudez D, Sanford E (1991) Extreme spatial variation in the growth and reproductive output of the acorn barnacle Semibalanus balanoides. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 75(1):91–100
Boëtius J (1952) Some notes on the relation to the substratum of Lepas anatifera L. and Lepas fascicularis. Oikos 4(2):112–117
Bravo M, Astudillo JC, Lancellotti D, Luna-Jorquera G, Valdivia N, Thiel M (2011) Rafting on abiotic substrata: properties of floating items and their influence on community succession. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 439:1-U26. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps09344
Bryan SE, Cook AG, Evans JP, Hebden K, Hurrey L, Colls P, Jell JS, Weatherley D, Firn J (2012) Rapid, long-distance dispersal by pumice rafting. PloS One. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0040583
Carlton JT, Chapman JW, Geller JB, Miller JA, Carlton DA, McCuller MI, Treneman NC, Steves PB, Ruiz GM (2017) Tsunami-driven rafting: Transoceanic species dispersal and implications for marine biogeography. Science 357(6358):1402–1406. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aao1498
Crisp DJ, Patel B (1961) The interaction between breeding and growth rate in the barnacle Elminius modestus Darwin. Limnol Oceanogr 6(2):105–115
Darwin CR (1851) A monograph of the sub-class Cirripedia, with figures of all the species. The Lepadidæ; or pedunculated cirripedes, vol 1. The Ray Society, London
Eckman JE, Duggins DO (1993) Effects of flow speed on growth of bentic suspension feeders. Biol Bull 185(1):28–41. https://doi.org/10.2307/1542128
Evans F (1958) Growth and maturity of the barnacles Lepas hillii and Lepas anatifera. Nature 182(4644):2
Fox J, Weisberg S (2019) An R companion to applied regression. Sage Publications
Fraser CI, Nikula R, Waters JM (2011) Oceanic rafting by a coastal community. Proc Royal Soc B 278(1706):649–655. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2010.1117
García-Gómez JC, Garrigós M, Garrigós J (2021) Plastic as a vector of dispersion for marine species with invasive potential A Review. Front Ecol Evol 9:208. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.629756
Geyer R, Jambeck JR, Law KL (2017) Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made. Sci Adv 3(7):e1700782. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1700782
Gil MA, Pfaller JB (2016) Oceanic barnacles act as foundation species on plastic debris: implications for marine dispersal. Sci Rep 6(1):19987. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep19987
Green A, Tyler PA, Angel MV, Gage JD (1994) Gametogenesis in deep-dwelling and surface-dwelling oceanic stalked barnacles from the NE Atlantic Ocean. J Exp Mar Bio Ecol 184(2):143–158. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-0981(94)90001-9
Gregory MR (2009) Environmental implications of plastic debris in marine settings-entanglement, ingestion, smothering, hangers-on, hitch-hiking and alien invasions. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 364(1526):2013–2025. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2008.0265
Haram LE, Carlton JT, Centurioni L, Crowley M, Hafner J, Maximenko N, Murray CC, Shcherbina AY, Hormann V, Wright C, Ruiz GM (2021) Emergence of a neopelagic community through the establishment of coastal species on the high seas. Nat Commun 12(1):6885. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27188-6
Hinojosa I, Boltana S, Lancellotti D, Macaya E, Ugalde P, Valdivia N, Vásquez N, Newman WA, Thiel M (2006) Geographic distribution and description of four pelagic barnacles along the south east Pacific coast of Chile-a zoogeographical approximation. Rev Chil Hist Nat 79(1):13–27
Howard GK, Scott HC (1959) Predaceous feeding in two common gooseneck barnacles. Sci 129(3350):2. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.129.3350.717
Inatsuchi A, Yamato S, Yusa Y (2010) Effects of temperature and food availability on growth and reproduction in the neustonic pedunculate barnacle Lepas anserifera. Mar Bio 157(4):899–905. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-009-1373-0
Jambeck JR, Geyer R, Wilcox C, Siegler TR, Perryman M, Andrady A, Narayan R, Law KL (2015) Marine pollution Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean. Sci 347(6223):768–771. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1260352
Kaiser BA, Burnett KM (2010) Spatial economic analysis of early detection and rapid response strategies for an invasive species. Resour Energy Econ 32:566–585. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.reseneeco.2010.04.007
Kuhn M (2022) Package “caret”: Classification and regression training. R package version 6.0–93. https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/caret/index.html. Accessed 18 May 2022
Lebreton L, Egger M, Slat B (2019) A global mass budget for positively buoyant macroplastic debris in the ocean. Sci Rep 9(1):12922. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-49413-5
Lonsdale DJ, Levinton JS (1985) Latitudinal differentiation in copepod growth - an adaptation to temperature. Ecol 66(5):1397–1407. https://doi.org/10.2307/1938002
López BA, Macaya EC, Rivadeneira MM, Tala F, Tellier F, Thiel M (2018) Epibiont communities on stranded kelp rafts of Durvillaea antarctica (Fucales, Phaeophyceae)–do positive interactions facilitate range extensions? J Biogeogr 45(8):1833–1845. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.13375
Macaya EC, Boltana S, Hinojosa IA, Macchiavello JE, Valdivia NA, Vásquez NR, Buschmann AH, Vásquez JA, Vega MA, Thiel M (2005) Presence of sporophylls in floating kelp rafts of Macrocystis spp. (Phaeophyceae) along the Chilean Pacific coast. J Phycol 41(5):913–922. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1529-8817.2005.00118.x
MacIntyre RJ (1966) Rapid growth in stalked barnacles. Nature 212(5062):2
Magni PA, Venn C, Aquila I, Pepe F, Ricci P, Di Nunzio C, Ausania F, Dadour IR (2015) Evaluation of the floating time of a corpse found in a marine environment using the barnacle Lepas anatifera L. (Crustacea: Cirripedia: Pedunculata). Forensic Sci Int 247:6–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2014.11.016
Marin VH, Delgado LE (2007) Lagrangian observations of surface coastal flows North of 30 degrees S in the Humboldt current system. J Geophys Res Oceans 27(6):731–743. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csr.2006.11.014
Marin VCH, Delgado LE, Luna-Jorquera G (2003) S-chlorophyll squirts at 30 degrees S off the Chilean coast (eastern South Pacific): Feature-tracking analysis. J Geophys Res Oceans. https://doi.org/10.1029/2003jc001935
McIntyre T, Postma M, van der Merwe DS, Wege M, Bester MN (2011) Hitchhiking goose barnacles and their potential implications on the functioning of animal-borne instruments. S Afr J Wildl 41(2):218–223
Memmi M (1980) A new sub genus and species of the genus Lepas (Crustacea, Cirripedia). Zool Zh (russia) 59:948–950
Mesaglio TP, Schilling HT, Adler L, Ahyong ST, Maslen B, Suthers IM (2021) The ecology of Lepas-based biofouling communities on moored and drifting objects, with applications for marine forensic science. Mar Biol 168(2):21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-021-03822-1
Montecino V, Astoreca R, Paredes MA, Rutllant J (2002) Revisiting in-situ chlorophyll-a data along the coast in North-Central Chile considering multiscale environmental variability. Investig Mar 30:120–121
Newman WA, Ross A (1971) Antarctic Cirripedia, monographic account based on specimens collected chiefly under the United States Antarctic Research Program, 1962–1965. Antarctic research series, vol 14. American Geophysical Union
Orton JH (1930) Experiments in the sea on the growth-inhibitive and preservative value of poisonous paints and other substances. J Mar Biolog Assoc U. K. 16(2):373–452. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025315400072842
Page HM (1986) Differences in population-structure and growth-rate of the stalked barnacle Pollicipes polymerus between a rocky headland and an offshore oil platform. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 29(2):157–164. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps029157
Patel B (1959) The influence of temperature on the reproduction and moulting of Lepas anatifera L. under laboratory conditions. J Mar Biolog Assoc U. K. 38(03):589–597
Pergl J, Brundu G, Harrower CA, Cardoso AC, Genovesi P, Katsanevakis S, Lozano V, Perglová I, Rabitsch W, Richards G, Roques A, Rorke SL, Scalera R, Schönrogge K, Stewart A, Tricarico E, Tsiamis K, Vannini A, Vilà M, Zenetos A, Roy HE (2020) Applying the convention on biological diversity pathway classification to alien species in Europe. NeoBiota 62:333–363. https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.62.53796
Pfaller JB, Payton AC, Bjorndal KA, Bolten AB, McDaniel SF (2019) Hitchhiking the high seas: global genomics of rafting crabs. Ecol Evol 9(3):957–974. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4694
Pluess T, Jarošík V, Pyšek P, Cannon R, Pergl J, Breukers A, Bacher S (2012) Which factors affect the success or failure of eradication campaigns against alien species? PLoS ONE 7(10):e48157. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0048157
Pörtner HO, Storch D, Heilmayer O (2005) Constraints and trade-offs in climate-dependent adaptation: energy budgets and growth in a latitudinal cline. Sci Mar 69:271–285
Rech S, Salmina S, Borrell Pichs YJ, García-Vazquez E (2018) Dispersal of alien invasive species on anthropogenic litter from European mariculture areas. Mar Pollut Bull 131:10–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2018.03.038
Rothäusler E, Gomez I, Hinojosa IA, Karsten U, Miranda L, Tala F, Thiel M (2011) Kelp rafts in the Humboldt Current: interplay of abiotic and biotic factors limit their floating persistence and dispersal potential. Limnol Oceangr 56(5):1751–1763. https://doi.org/10.4319/lo.2011.56.5.1751
Rutllant J, Montecino V (2002) Multiscale upwelling forcing cycles and biological response off northcentral Chile. Rev Chil De Hist Nat 75:217–231
Savari R, Kamrani E, Shahdadi A, Rezaie-Atagholipour M (2014) Influence of temperature and food concentrations on growth and moulting of the barnacle, Microeuraphia permitini (Zevina & Litvinova, 1970) (Chthamalidae, Euraphinae): a laboratory experiment. Crustaceana 87(6):641–653. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685403-00003314
Schiffer PH, Herbig HG (2016) Endorsing Darwin: global biogeography of the epipelagic goose barnacles Lepas spp. (Cirripedia, Lepadomorpha) proves cryptic speciation. Zool J Linn Soc 177(3):507–525. https://doi.org/10.1111/zoj.12373
Skerman TM (1958) Rates of growth in two species of Lepas (Cirripedia). N z Jl Sci 1:10
Smith FGW (1946) Effect of water currents upon the attachment and growth of barnacles. Biolol Bull 90(1):20
Sorg MH, Dearborn JH, Monahan EI, Ryan HF, Sweeney KG, David E (1997) Forensic taphonomy in marine context. In: Haglund WD, Sorg MH (eds) Forensic taphonomy. The post mortem fate of human remains. CRC, Boca Ranton, pp 567–604
Southward AJ (1957) On the behaviour of barnacles III. Further observations on the influence of temperature and age on cirral activity. J Mar Biolog Assoc U K 36(02):323–334. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025315400016830
Stelfox M, Lett C, Reid G, Souch G, Sweet M (2020) Minimum drift times infer trajectories of ghost nets found in the Maldives. Mar Pollut Bull 154:111037. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111037
Tala F, Gómez I, Luna-Jorquera G, Thiel M (2013) Morphological, physiological and reproductive conditions of rafting bull kelp (Durvillaea antarctica) in northern-central Chile (30°S). Mar Biol 160:1339–1351. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-013-2186-8
Ten S, Pascual L, Pérez-Gabaldón MI, Tomás J, Domènech F, Aznar FJ (2019) Epibiotic barnacles of sea turtles as indicators of habitat use and fishery interactions: an analysis of juvenile loggerhead sea turtles, Caretta caretta, in the western Mediterranean. Ecol Indic 107:105672. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2019.105672
Thiel M, Gutow L (2005) The ecology of rafting in the marine environment II. The rafting organisms and community. Oceanogr Mar Biol 43:279–418
Thiel M, Haye PA (2006) The ecology of rafting in the marine environment. III. Biogeographical and evolutionary consequences. Oceanogr Mar Biol 44:323–429
Tsiamis K, Azzurro E, Bariche M, Çinar ME, Crocetta F, De Clerck O, Galil B, Gómez F, Hoffman R, Jensen KR, Kamburska L, Langeneck J, Langer MR, Levitt-Barmats YÁ, Lezzi M, Marchini A, Occhipinti-Ambrogi A, Ojaveer H, Piraino S, Shenkar N, Yankova M, Zenetos A, Žuljević A, Cardoso AC (2020) Prioritizing marine invasive alien species in the European Union through horizon scanning. Aquat Conserv Mar Freshw Ecosys 30(4):794–845. https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.3267
Tsikhon-Lukanina EA, Nikolaeva GG (2004) Body size and food composition of the barnacle Lepas anatifera (Crustacea, Cirripedia) in cluster and single settlements on floating Sargassum in the Norwegian Sea. Zool Zh 83(4):402–407
Tsikhon-Lukanina EA, Reznichenko OG, Nikolaeva GG (2001) Ecology of invertebrates on the oceanic floating substrata in the northwest Pacific Ocean. Oceanol 41(4):525–530
Ullmann CV, Gale AS, Haggett J, Wray D, Frei R, Korte C, Broom-Fendley S, Littler K, Hesselbo SP (2018) The geochemistry of modern calcareous barnacle shells and applications for palaeoenvironmental studies. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 243:149–168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2018.09.010
van Sebille E, Aliani S, Law KL, Maximenko N, Alsina JM, Bagaev A, Bergmann M, Chapron B, Chubarenko I, Cózar A, Delandmeter P, Egger M, Fox-Kemper B, Garaba SP, Goddijn-Murphy L, Hardesty BD, Hoffman MJ, Isobe A, Jongedijk CE, Kaandorp MLA, Khatmullina L, Koelmans AA, Kukulka T, Laufkötter C, Lebreton L, Lobelle D, Maes C, Martinez-Vicente V, Morales Maqueda MA, Poulain-Zarcos M, Rodríguez E, Ryan PG, Shanks AL, Shim WJ, Suaria G, Thiel M, van den Bremer TS, Wichmann D (2020) The physical oceanography of the transport of floating marine debris. Environ Res Lett 15(2):023003. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab6d7d
Vázquez-Prada G, Jaramillo E, Morales G, Silva R (2013) First record of Lepas spp. (Cirripedia: Thoracica: Lepadiformes) attached to pumice from the Cordón-Caulle eruption along the central-South Chilean coast. Mar Biodivers Rec 6(1):E81. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1755267213000584
Wickham H (2016) Ggplot2: elegant graphics for data analysis. Springer Verlag
Xu Y, Goodacre R (2018) On splitting training and validation set: a comparative study of cross-validation, bootstrap and systematic sampling for estimating the generalization performance of supervised learning. J Anal Test 2(3):249–262. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41664-018-0068-2
Acknowledgements
We acknowledge financial support from Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico (FONDECYT) 1100749. Big thanks go to Germán Penna, David Jofré and Freddy Gonzalez for their assistance in the field and help with data collection as well as to Eva Rothäusler and David Jofre for their help with the map.
Funding
Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico (FONDECYT) 1100749.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
HG: study design, data collection, data analysis and interpretation, first draft, final draft. GLJ: mathematical models, data analysis and interpretation, contributed to first draft, final draft. APDP: data collection, contributed to first draft, final draft. JP: data collection, final draft. FT: study design, data collection, final draft. MT: funding, study design, data analysis and interpretation, contributed to first draft, final draft.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
Financial interests: The authors declare they have no financial interests. Non-Financial interests: none; MT has served as Associate Editor for Marine Biology. All authors consent to the publication of this manuscript.
Ethical approval
This study did not require ethics approval.
Additional information
Responsible Editor: P. Ramey-Balci.
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary Information
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Goehlich, H., Luna-Jorquera, G., Drapeau Picard, AP. et al. Seasonal growth rates of gooseneck barnacles (Lepas spp.): Proxies for floating time of rafts in marine ecosystems. Mar Biol 171, 36 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-023-04336-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-023-04336-8