ceilidhtheofrastous
ecophoto3
This is an image of acorn barnacle attached to the jetty at Masonboro Inlet, taken on March 27th. Barnacles exhibit a certain kind of intraspecific competition due to their clumped distribution; rather than centering around something like food to survive, this species is more concerned with the availability of space. There was an experiment done at the Hatfield Marine Science center in Newport, Oregon, where they were testing to see how density affects the fitness of barnacle populations. The researchers found that the individual's growth in a low-density population was high than that of those in a high-density population. However, survival rates were higher in the high-density populations. From reading about the experiment, it seems that barnacles have a higher survival rate in larger populations. Perhaps this is because resources are easily distributed between the barnacles when they are smaller and more abundant.
ecophoto3
This is an image of acorn barnacle attached to the jetty at Masonboro Inlet, taken on March 27th. Barnacles exhibit a certain kind of intraspecific competition due to their clumped distribution; rather than centering around something like food to survive, this species is more concerned with the availability of space. There was an experiment done at the Hatfield Marine Science center in Newport, Oregon, where they were testing to see how density affects the fitness of barnacle populations. The researchers found that the individual's growth in a low-density population was high than that of those in a high-density population. However, survival rates were higher in the high-density populations. From reading about the experiment, it seems that barnacles have a higher survival rate in larger populations. Perhaps this is because resources are easily distributed between the barnacles when they are smaller and more abundant.