Are barnacle larvae able to escape from the threat of UV? |
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Authors: | Wai-Lun Chiang Rudolf Shiu-Sun Wu Peter Kwan-Ngok Yu Doris Wai-Ting Au |
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Institution: | (1) Centre for Coastal Pollution and Conservation, City University of Hong Kong, 83 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong |
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Abstract: | Earlier laboratory experiments suggested that environmental levels of UV-B radiation can damage the eyes of barnacle naupliar
larvae and impair their phototactic behaviors. However, since barnacle larvae may avoid UV by migrating to deeper waters,
it is not known whether such impairment would actually occur under field conditions. For the first time, this study provides
both field and laboratory evidences to show that prevailing UV-B in the natural habitat of barnacle larvae could be an important
environmental factor affecting natural barnacle populations. We here showed that although barnacle nauplii may avoid UV-B
irradiation by downward migration, the amount of UV energy (9.8 × 10−6 J) received by a naupliar eye during downward migration in the natural water column is within the same order of magnitude
as the total energy (7.5 × 10−6 J) sufficient to cause damages to naupliar eye and impair their phototactic responses. It is possible that solar UV-B prevailing
at shallow waters would pose a similar threat to other zooplankton species over large geographic scale. |
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