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Abstract
The accumulation of microbial biofilms on ships’ hulls negatively affects ship performance and efficiency while also playing a role in the establishment of even more detrimental hard-fouling communities. However, there is little quantitative information on how the accumulation rate of microbial biofilms is impacted by the balance of the rates of cell settlement, in situ production (ie growth), dispersal to surrounding waters and mortality induced by grazers. These rates were quantified on test panels coated with copper-based antifouling (AF) or polymer-based fouling-release (FR) coatings by using phospholipids as molecular proxies for microbial biomass. The results confirmed the accepted modes of efficacy of these two types of coatings. In a more extensive set of experiments with only the FR coatings, it was found that seasonally averaged cellular production rates were 1.5 ± 0.5 times greater than settlement and the dispersal rates were 2.7 ± 0.8 greater than grazing. The results of this study quantitatively describe the dynamic balance of processes leading to the accumulation of microbial biofilm on coatings designed for ships’ hulls.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Doug Handy and Ed O’Brien for assistance with diving activities at WHOI pier, Eric Holm, Dean Webster and David Christianson for coating the ship’s hull test coupon and panels. They are also grateful for assistance with lipid analyses and illustrations by Kimberly Popendorf and Jack Cook, respectively. This work was supported by grants from the Office of Naval Research to B.A.S.V.M. [N000140610134, N000140810764, N000140910091 and N000141110181] and grants from the National Institutes of Health to P.J.S.S. [NCRR P41RR01395].