Effect of chlorination on the development of marine biofilms dominated by diatoms

Abstract

This study addressed the antifouling efficiency of commercially available chlorine at different concentrations (0.5%, 1%, and 2%) and exposure times (0.5 min, 1 min, 5 min, and 15 min). The rapid and non-destructive FIRe (fluorescence induction and relaxation) technique was used to evaluate the effects of the biocide on diatom dominated biofilms. The efficiency of chlorine in removing diatoms from the developed biofilms increased with an increase in concentration and exposure time. The fluorescence measurements revealed low F _v /F _m and high σ_PSII values for chlorine-treated Navicula and Amphora biofilms indicating that chlorination was efficient in damaging the photosystem-II reaction centers. Chlorination also caused mortality of diatom cells by damaging the cell body. In natural biofilms, the biocidal effect of chlorine was species specific; species of Amphiphrora, Navicula, Cylindrotheca, and Coscinodiscus showed an increase in the density of the population, but species of Pleurosigma, Amphora, and Thalassionema did not increase in density after chlorine treatment. It was also demonstrated that diatoms can colonize, grow and photosynthesize on chlorine-treated surfaces. Under pulse chlorination (treatment every 6 h), irrespective of chlorine concentration, the development of biofouling decreased with an increase in exposure time. Differences between exposure times of 1 to 15 min were not significant. Additionally, transmission levels of the control (non-chlorine-treated) fouled coupons reduced significantly (∼20%) compared to the chlorine-treated fouled coupons (<2%). These results suggest that chlorine can be used as a biocide to control the development of diatom biofilms.

Keywords:

• diatoms
• biofilms
• chlorine
• FIRe
• pulse chlorination

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Director, National Institute of Oceanography, CSIR (Goa, India) and Dr AC Anil and Dr SS Sawant for their support and encouragement. They also thank Mr Khedekar for his help with the SEM and the editor and three anonymous reviewers for their suggestions in improving the manuscript. This paper is NIO contribution number 4918.