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SUMMARY:Darwin’s “beloved barnacles” - an evolutionary success story
  - Professor Andrew Gale (University of Portsmouth)
DTSTART:20141110T180000Z
DTEND:20141110T190000Z
UID:TALK54361@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Jack Wright
DESCRIPTION:Barnacles are highly modified crustaceans\, which have attache
 d to substrates by the head\, grown a calcareous shell to protect the body
  and filter feed by use of modified limbs. Charles Darwin undertook a deta
 iled study of living and fossil barnacles in the period immediately preced
 ing completion and final publication of the Origin of Species. He had hope
 d to demonstrate the fundamental transition between stalked and sessile fo
 rms\, but the fossil material then available proved to be too sparse to al
 low this. However\, he identified homologies between living representative
 s of the two groups and famously quipped that we now live in the “Age of
  Barnacles”\, in view of the exceptional success of acorn barnacles in s
 hallow marine habitats.\n\nRecent finds of fossil barnacles fill in many o
 f the gaps in evolution which Darwin identified\, but significantly modify
  his conclusions regarding homologies. Taken together with a new molecular
  phylogeny\, it is now possible to trace critical events in the evolutiona
 ry history of these bizarre animals. A major breakthrough appears to immed
 iately postdate the Cretaceous-Palaeogene boundary\, when the occurrence o
 f empty niches coincided with evolutionary innovation\, leading to the ext
 raordinary radiation of the acorn barnacles. They now occupy almost every 
 marine habitat - boring into whales\, sticking to rocks\, infesting corals
  and fouling ships. They also display huge diversity in reproductive strat
 egies\, which intrigues zoologists.\n\nAndy Gale studied Geology at King
 ’s College\, London\, where he obtained a BSc  and a PhD in the study of
  fossil starfish. He worked in the Palaeontology Department of the Natural
  History Museum and as a lecturer in Imperial College\, before moving to t
 he University of Portsmouth where he is now Professor of Geology. His inte
 rests include Cretaceous chalks\, fossil echinoderms\, sea-level change\, 
 Milankovitch Cycles and stable isotope stratigraphy. He lives on the Isle 
 of Wight\, where he grows potatoes and collects edible fungi.
LOCATION:Harker Room 1\, Department of Earth Sciences
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