Introduction to the symposium--barnacle biology: essential aspects and contemporary approaches

Barnacles have evolved a number of specialized features peculiar for crustaceans: they produce a calcified, external shell; they exhibit sexual strategies involving dioecy and androdioecy; and some have become internal parasites of other Crustacea. The thoroughly sessile habit of adults also belies the highly mobile and complex nature of their larval stages. Given these and other remarkable innovations in their natural history, it is perhaps not surprising that barnacles present a spectrum of opportunities for study. This symposium integrates research on barnacles in the areas of larval biology, biofouling, reproduction, biogeography, speciation, population genetics, ecological genomics, and phylogenetics. Pioneering comparisons are presented of metamorphosis among barnacles from three major lineages. Biofouling is investigated from the perspectives of biochemical and biomechanical mechanisms. Tradeoffs in reproductive specializations are scrutinized through theoretical modeling and empirical validation. Patterns of endemism and diversity are delineated in Australia and intricate species boundaries in the genus Chthamalus are elucidated for the Indo-Pacific. General methodological concerns with population expansion studies in crustaceans are highlighted using barnacle models. Data from the first, draft barnacle genome are employed to examine location-specific selection. Lastly, barnacle evolution is framed in a deep phylogenetic context and hypothetical origins of defined characters are outlined and tested.