Recruitment and Survivorship of Intertidal Barnacles at Read Wildlife Sanctuary, Rye (NY)

Abstract

The intertidal zone is simultaneously a marine and terrestrial habitat. Organisms that reside in this habitat are exposed to multiple biotic and abiotic stressors that can be unique to this area. For some sessile organisms, such as barnacles, stressors such as desiccation, thermal, predation, and competition can affect their survival rate and recruitment rate. Recruitment is essential for the barnacle species population to survive in an area. Recruitment rate was measured in two areas of the intertidal zone of Read Wildlife Sanctuary in Rye: a rocky area and a sandy area with few hard substrates. Bricks were laid down and observed for newly settled recruits. Recruits were then observed over a period of 7 weeks and population survival and density was recorded. At the end of the study, it was shown that the rocky area of the intertidal zone had a high number of recruits and higher population density but small barnacles. The sandy area of the intertidal zone had low numbers of recruits and low population densities, but the individual barnacles were much bigger in circumference than those in the rocky zone.