Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T16:40:06.678Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Variations in biofilms colonizing artificial surfaces: seasonal effects and effects of grazers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

M.J. Anderson
Affiliation:
Marine Studies Centre, Marine Ecology Laboratories All, University of Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia

Extract

The colonization of microscopic organisms, commonly called a biofilm, was examined on fibreglass panels situated intertidally at Quibray Bay of Botany Bay in New South Wales, Australia. Panels were examined by incident light microscopy, measuring percentage cover, and by a computer image analysis technique, measuring optical density. Optical density was positively correlated with and was therefore a reliable estimate of total percentage cover of the biofilm. Optical density has not been used before in this application and, although some drawbacks are discussed, it is a much more efficient sampling method than microscopic examination of panels.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, M.J., 1992. Settlement and succession of oysters and fouling organisms in Quibray Bay, New South Wales. Honours thesis, University of Sydney, Australia.Google Scholar
Anderson, M.J. & Underwood, A.J., 1994. Effects of substratum on the recruitment and development of an intertidal estuarine fouling assemblage. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 184, 217236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Branch, G.M. & Branch, M.L., 1980. Competition in Bembicium auratum (Gastropoda) and its effects on microalgal standing stock in mangrove muds. Oecologia, 46, 106114.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cairns, J., 1982. Artificial substrates. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Ann Arbor Science Publishers.Google Scholar
Cochran, W.G., 1947. Some consequences when the assumptions for the analysis of variance are not satisfied. Biometrics, 3, 2238.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crisp, D.J. & Ryland, J.S., 1960. Influence of filming and of surface texture on the settlement of marine organisms. Nature, London, 185, 119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Douglas, B., 1958. The ecology of the attached diatoms and other algae in a small stony stream. Journal of Ecology, 46, 295332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gaines, S. & Roughgarden, J., 1985. Larval settlement rate: a leading determinant of structure in an ecological community of the marine intertidal zone. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 82, 37073711.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoagland, K.D., Roemer, S.C. & Rosowski, J.R., 1982. Colonization and community structure of two periphyton assemblages, with emphasis on the diatoms (Bacillariophyceae). American Journal of Botany, 69, 188213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hopkins, J.T., 1964. A study of the diatoms of the Ouse estuary, Sussex. III. The seasonal variation in the littoral epiphyte flora and the shore plankton. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 44, 613644.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hudon, C. & Bourget, E., 1981. Initial colonization of artificial substrate: community development and structure studied by scanning electron microscopy. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Science, 38, 13711384.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennelly, S.J., 1983. An experimental approach to the study of factors affecting algal colonization in a sublittoral kelp forest. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 68, 257276.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirchman, D. & Mitchell, R., 1983. Biochemical interactions between microorganisms and marine fouling invertebrates. In Biodeterioration 5 (ed. T.A., Oxley and S., Barry), pp. 281290. New York: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Maclulich, J.H., 1986. Colonization of bare rock surfaces by microflora in a rocky intertidal habitat. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 32, 9196.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maclulich, J.H., 1987. Variations in the density and variety of intertidal epilithic microflora. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 40, 285293.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCook, L.J. & Chapman, A.R.O., 1993. Community succession following massive ice-scour on a rocky intertidal shore: recruitment, competition and predation during early, primary succession. Marine Biology, 115, 565575.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mclntire, Cd. & Overton, W.S., 1971. Distributional patterns in assemblages of attached diatoms from Yaquina estuary, Oregon. Ecology, 52, 758777.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murray, S.N. & Littler, M.M., 1978. Patterns of algal succession in a perturbated marine intertidal community. Journal ofPhycology, 14, 506512.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patrick, R., 1968. The structure of diatom communities in similar ecological conditions. American Naturalist, 102, 173183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russ, G.R., 1977. A comparison of the marine fouling occurring at the two principal Australian Naval Dockyards. Department of Defence, Materials Research Laboratories, Report MRL-R-688.Google Scholar
Underwood, A.J., 1981. Techniques of analysis of variance in experimental marine biology and ecology. Oceanography and Marine Biology. Annual Review. London, 19, 513605.Google Scholar
Underwood, A.J., 1984 a. Microalgal food and the growth of the intertidal gastropods Nerita atramentosa Reeve and Bembicium nanum (Lamarck) at four heights on a shore. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 79, 277291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Underwood, A.J., 1984 b. The vertical distribution and seasonal abundance of intertidal microalgae on a rocky shore in New South Wales. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 78, 199220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Underwood, A.J. & Anderson, M.J., 1994. Seasonal and temporal aspects of recruitment and succession in an intertidal estuarine fouling assemblage. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 74, 563584.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Underwood, A.J. & Barrett, G., 1990. Experiments on the influence of oysters on the distribution, abundance and sizes of the gastropod Bembicium auratum in a mangrove swamp in New South Wales, Australia. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 137, 2545.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Underwood, A.J. & Denley, E.J., 1984. Paradigms, explanations and generalizations in models for the structure of intertidal communities on rocky shores. In Ecological communities: conceptual issues and the evidence (ed. D.R., Strong et al.), pp. 151180. Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zobell, C.E. & Allen, E.C., 1935. The significance of marine bacteria in the fouling of submerged surfaces. Journal of Bacteriology, 29, 239251.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed