Elongated grains at the outer edge of the ala are oriented perpendicularly to the contact surface, and the c-axis rotates with the radius of the ala. Our results indicate that the ala contain functionally graded orientations and microstructures in their crystallography, which has implications for naturally functioning microstructures, potential natural strengthening and preferred oriented biomineralization. The exoskeleton is composed of six interlocking wall plates, and the interlocks between neighbouring plates (alae) allow barnacles to expand and grow while remaining sealed and structurally strong. Here, we have used numerous coupled systems: X-ray microscopy (XRM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), optical light microscopy (LM) and focused ion beam (FIB-SEM) microscopy to ascertain the microstructural and crystallographic properties of the wall-plate joints in the barnacle Semibalanus balanoides. This is because at high salinities, there were so many barnacles that they were crowded together and weren’t able to get any bigger.Correlative imaging combines information from multiple modalities (physical-chemical-mechanical properties) at various length scales (centimetre to nanometre) to understand the complex biological materials across dimensions (2D-3D). Even though for their size, barnacles from higher salinities have more eggs and larvae than barnacles from lower salinities, surveying the beaches made me realized that the barnacles at the lower salinities were a lot bigger.
Unfortunately, a little more digging showed me that I might not be so lucky. In biology, a result like this is really exciting! You find a trend, you try to explain it, and things go just the way you expect. Also, more barnacles from the higher salinities actually had brood masses! Sacrificing the lives of many barnacles collected from beaches around Vancouver, I found an interesting trend! The barnacles from the higher salinities had bigger egg/larval masses than barnacles of the same size from lower salinities. The life cycle of an acorn barnacle has multiple stages! (photo credit: ) While the larva and adults are very tolerant to a wide range of salinities, I wanted to find out whether the difference in barnacle cover between high and low salinity beaches was a result of differences in reproduction, or this brooding behaviour. However, while wandering the beaches of Vancouver, I noticed that some beaches had more dense populations of barnacles than others, and that these beaches tended to have higher salinities!īarnacles are amazing because not only do they have internal fertilization, they also brood their eggs until they become larva inside their shell for 6 months. Part of what makes acorn barnacles such an effective invasive species is that they are able to handle a wide range of salinities. Understanding what environmental factors determine where they can live is very helpful in trying to figure out what will happen when an invader is introduced. Invasive species like the acorn barnacle can have devastating effects on local populations of initial organisms. They originated on the west coast of North America, but due to ocean-wide shipping routes, these little guys have been spread all over the world. Acorn barnacles are an extremely common barnacle that lives in the mid-high intertidal zone.
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