The colonization of artificial substrata by marine sessile organisms in false bay. 2. Substratal material

Abstract

The colonization of six test materials by marine sessile communities was examined at 10 and 20 m in False Bay, South Africa, for periods ranging from a month to a year. The initial development of fouling communities at each depth was similar on stainless steel, aluminium, fibreglass, polyvinylchloride and silicon rubber, but it was reduced on corrosive mild steel. With the exception of a few species that rarely settled on dark materials, many species did not seem to discriminate actively between the substrata. Later succession resulted in heavy fouling of the metals. Reduced bioadhesion caused by hydrophobicity may explain why the synthetics, especially silicon rubber, had a reduced ability to support bulky, complex fouling communities in contrast to the wettable metals. Although there were major differences between study sites in the annual community development, the conclusions on relative susceptibility to biofouling of the various materials were not affected. © 1990 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.