THE INFLUENCE OF INITIAL SURFACE-CHEMISTRY ON DEVELOPMENT OF THE FOULING COMMUNITY AT BEAUFORT, NORTH-CAROLINA

Larval settlement of macrofouling invertebrates is affected by the sur face energy of the substratum. We followed the development of the foul ing community on IO substrata of differing surface energy to determine if initial effects on settlement manifest themselves over longer time spans as variation in community structure. We monitored two arrays of silanized glass rods for 3 days to assess settlement, then allowed th em to remain immersed. After 30 days the coverage of five groups of fo uling organisms - barnacles, tubeworms, Bugula neritina (L), encrustin g bryozoans and hydrozoans - was quantified for each surface. Silaniza tion treatments had a significant effect on the structure of the fouli ng community colonizing rods immersed on 26 June 1988. We observed no such effect for a second array immersed on 2 August 1988. The structur e of the communities developing on the substrata immersed in June appe ared to be unrelated to initial settlement patterns. The composition o f the fouling community varied spatially for both experimental arrays. While surface energy may initially be important in determining the se ttlement of macrofouling organisms, its effects, over the long term, o n development of fouling communities appear indirect at best, and are complicated by temporal variation. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.