Crowd control: does cyprid larval density affect settlement?

Abstract

The site selection and attachment mechanisms of barnacles are studied extensively because of the negative impact of barnacles as biofouling organisms that attach to ships hulls and increase frictional drag. Site selection in barnacles occurs during a specialized larval stage known as the cypris stage. This paper investigates the effect of cyprid population density on settlement by comparing differences in settlement percentages between treatments with 5 cyprids/ 10 mL water, 10 cyprids/ 10 mL water, and 20 cyprids/ 10 mL water. Cyprids were exposed to each treatment for one week. A single factor ANOVA was used to test for significance at alpha = 0.05. There was no significant difference in the average settlement percentage between treatments. Future research into antifouling technologies should investigate the mechanisms behind settlement cues that have a significant effect on settlement percentage such as light, salinity, flow rate, surface texture, conspecific proteins, and biofilms.