Rapid range shift in an introduced tropical marine invertebrate.

ABSTRACT: The barnacle Megabalanus coccopoma is native to shorelines from Baja California to Peru and has been introduced to a number of other locations including the Atlantic US SE coast, where it was first recorded in 2006. In 2009, the range of M. coccopoma in the SE US extended from Ft. Pierce, FL north to Cape Hatteras, NC with seasonal populations found as far north as Kitty Hawk, NC. During the exceptionally cold winter of 2009/2010, the range of M. coccopoma shifted dramatically due to the dieback of all monitored populations north of Florida. We examined body size, distribution, and density of M. coccopoma during the summers of 2010, 2011, and 2012 to describe the extent of the range retraction and the rate of range re-expansion. In 2010, recruits were found as far north as Tybee Island, Ga

SUBMITTER: Crickenberger S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3789662 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature