Development and succession of sessile macrofouling organisms on the artificial structure in the Shallow Coastal Waters of Sabah, Malaysia

Abstract

This study investigates the development and succession of sessile macrofouling organisms on PVC panels deployed in shallow coastal waters. The experimental setup includes two different sets of interconnected PVC pipe frame in a triangle shape which was attached to concrete blocks deployed at the seafloor and kept afloat vertically underwater at 2m and 8m depth, respectively. To determine the development and succession of sessile macrofouling, a total of 36 experimental PVC panels were attached on the two different frames whereby three panels were then taken for every 30 days of submersion until macrofouling had fully covered the plates at approximately after 180 days. There were nine sessile macrofouling species identified on both sides of the PVC plates with Lyngbya sp., being the most dominant during the first 30 days of submersion with percentage cover of nearly 70%. As macrofouling continually progress over time, Eudendrium sp. and Amphibalanus sp., surpass other species with highest percentage cover of nearly 80% and 65% respectively thereafter 180 days of development. Macrofouling are influenced by environmental parameters, CCA summarize suggest that temperature at 30.9°C is likely encouraged the progression of Isognomon sp. 1, Isognomon sp. 2, Gracilaria sp. and Eudendrium sp. while slow water movement (i.e. 5 cm/s) is more conducive for the development of Lyngbya sp.