Risks for larvae mediated by plasticity in hatching

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AbstractRisks associated with benthic and planktonic development can be mediated by plasticity in hatching. The ability to delay hatching while awaiting favorable planktonic conditions, combined with the ability to accelerate hatching when encapsulated offspring are at risk, should be advantageous. We tested this predicted association of hatching plasticities with a barnacle. In the winter, broods of barnacles (Balanus glandula) reached hatching‐capable stages at widely varying times, but these broods hatched in the spring within about 2 weeks, consistent with a synchronizing environmental stimulus for hatching. In contrast, the same adults held subsequent broods (during later spring and summer) briefly. Either an environmental stimulus for hatching was not needed later in the season, or it was more frequently present. Dissections of brood lamellae that scattered smaller clumps of the encapsulated nauplii induced hatching. Crabs eating brooding adults had a similar effect: crabs broke the barnacles' tests, and many nauplii hatched. In contrast, when whelks ate barnacles, they left the barnacles' wall plates and opercula in place, and few nauplii were released. In some cases, numerous hatched nauplii were trapped within the test of the killed mother. At a field site with abundant whelks, many dead barnacles had opercular plates in place. Plasticity in hatching of broods adjusted risks for planktonic larvae against risks of death of the parent before release of embryos, but escape or death of brooded offspring depended on the kind of damage to the brooding mother and thus on the kind of predator. Although both predators killed brooding parents, subtle snails imposed a greater risk than crushing crabs.