Despite the known abundance of nonindigenous marine organisms in Hawaii, and the great awareness of the impacts of invasive species in terrestrial ecosystems in Hawaii, comparatively little research has been done on marine invaders and their impacts or potential impacts on native species and ecosystem. My graduate research examines the roles of community composition and disturbance level in invasion success, and examines the impact of a conspicuous new invader, the Caribbean barnacle Chthamalus proteus, on native communities.
Settling primarily on man-made substrata in calm waters, C. proteus attains nearly 100 percent cover in some locations, such as this pier piling in Kaneohe Bay.
A survey carried out at Coconut Island showed that a native limpet, Siphonaria normalis, is locally less abundant in places where C. proteus has settled densely. Is the limpet affecting the barnacle or vice versa? I am carrying out several experiments in pursuit of this question.
Although the native barnacle Nesochthamalus intertextus is typically found in wave-beaten outer coasts, its distribution overlaps with that of C. proteus in semi-protected waters. I am examining potential competition between these two barnacle species at two sites: in Waikiki, where the native barnacle is the spatial dominant, and at Kualoa Beach, where the non-native is more abundant.
C. proteus individual (center) overgrown by native barnacles
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My graduate research is supported by a graduate research fellowship from the National Science Foundation, U.S. Sea Grant and the Edmonson Research Fund
