How to identify biofouling species in marine and freshwater

Abstract

The identification and management of biofouling remain pressing challenges in marine and freshwater ecosystems, with significant implications for environmental sustainability and industrial operations. This comprehensive review synthesizes the current state-of-the-art in biofouling identification technologies, examining eight prominent methodologies: Microscopy Examination, Molecular Biology, Remote Sensing, Community Involvement, Ecological Methods, Artificial Intelligence, Chemical Analysis, and Macro Photography. Each method is evaluated for its respective advantages and disadvantages, considering factors such as precision, scalability, cost, and data quality. Furthermore, the review identifies current obstacles that inhibit the optimal utilization of these technologies, ranging from technical limitations and high operational costs to issues of data inconsistency and subjectivity. Finally, the review posits a future outlook, advocating for the development of integrated, standardized systems that amalgamate the strengths of individual approaches. Such advancement will pave the way for more effective and sustainable strategies for biofouling identification and management.

Keywords:

• Biofouling identification
• biofouling formation
• biofouling challenges
• marine biofouling
• freshwater biofouling

Acknowledgements

We would also like to extend our sincere gratitude to the reviewers for their insightful comments and suggestions, which significantly contributed to the improvement of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Foundation for Key Program of Hubei Meteorological Bureau (No. 2022Z03).