Marine antifouling laboratory bioassays: an overview of their diversity

Abstract

In aquatic environments, biofouling is a natural process of colonization of submerged surfaces, either living or artificial, involving a wide range of organisms from bacteria to invertebrates. Antifouling can be defined as preventing the attachment of organisms onto surfaces. This article reviews the laboratory bioassays that have been developed for studying the control of algae and invertebrates by epibiosis (chemical ecology) and the screening of new active compounds (natural products and biocides) to inhibit settlement or adhesion, ie fouling-release coatings. The assays utilize a range of organisms (mainly marine bacteria, diatoms, algae, barnacles). The main attributes of assays for micro- and macroorganisms are described in terms of their main characteristics and depending on the biological process assessed (growth, adhesion, toxicity, behavior). The validation of bioassays is also discussed.

Keywords:

• biofouling
• biofilm
• diatom
• barnacle
• algae
• settlement
• larvae
• chemical cue

Acknowledgments

The author thanks all the people with whom he has had helpful discussions of this subject, both within his own laboratory, and at the various national and international project meetings in which the laboratory is implicated (ECOPAINT PACA, ANR ECIMAR, ACWS EDA). He also sincerely thanks the four anonymous reviewers for their relevant and constructive comments of earlier draft of the manuscript. Finally, he sincerely thanks the Assistant Editor for improving the manuscript.