The aim of this study was to produce a set of tiles for field studies on settlement and biofouling with carefully controlled surface characteristics and practical design, and test them under field conditions. Impressions of precisely defined surface textures were made in silicone. Double sided tiles in epoxy, polyester and silanised epoxy resins were cast from the impressions. Tile characteristics tested were texture (Ra = 0, 0.19, 0.62, 1.1, 2.2 mm), surface free energy (60, 52, 24 mN mm 2), and surface orientation (up, down, into, away). Tiles were deployed in the Red Sea for 4 and 7 months. Measures of community cover, dominance and richness were all significantly affected by each of the factors. The tiles proved durable and robust during the 7 month deployment with no observable changes in surface characteristics and none were lost or broken. These settlement tiles have a wide applicability for both biofouling and ecological studies. The field test demonstrated the complexities of the interactions between just four surface characteristics. This study has also underlined the need for multidimensional analysis of fouling communities for applied and basic research.
Optimising settlement tiles: The effects of surface texture and energy, orientation and deployment duration upon the fouling community
Reprints and Corporate Permissions
Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?
To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:
Academic Permissions
Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?
Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:
If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.
Related Research Data
Related research
People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.
Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.
Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.