Guenther Jana, De Nys Rocky
School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.
Biofouling. 2007;23(5-6):419-29. doi: 10.1080/08927010701570071.
The role of surface topography as a defence against fouling in tropical sea stars was investigated. The sea stars Linckia laevigata, Fromia indica, Cryptasterina pentagona and Archaster typicus are not fouled and have paxillae (modified ossicles with a median vertical pillar) on their aboral surfaces, which varied in diameter, height and distance depending on species and position on the aboral surface, providing unique and complex surface microtopographies for each species. The surfaces of the sea stars L. laevigata, F. indica and A. typicus were moderately wettable, with their mean seawater contact angles, calculated from captive bubble measurements, being 60.1 degrees, 70.3 degrees and 57.3 degrees, respectively. The seawater contact angle of C. pentagona could not be measured. To evaluate the effectiveness of the surface microtopographies in deterring the settlement of fouling organisms, field experiments with resin replicas of the four sea star species were conducted at three sites around Townsville, Australia, for 8 weeks during the dry and wet seasons. The fouling community and total fouling cover did not differ significantly between replicas of L. laevigata, F. indica, C. pentagona, A. typicus and control surfaces at any site during the dry season. Significant differences between fouling communities on the replicas of the sea stars and control surfaces were detected at two sites during the wet season. However, these differences were transitory, and the total fouling cover did not differ significantly between replicas of sea stars and control surfaces at two of the three sites. In contrast to recent literature on the effects of biofouling control by natural surfaces in the marine environment, the surface microtopographies of tropical sea stars alone were not effective in deterring the settlement and growth of fouling organisms.
研究了表面形貌在热带海星抵御污损方面的作用。光滑海盘车（Linckia laevigata）、印氏辐肛参（Fromia indica）、五角真叶海星（Cryptasterina pentagona）和多棘海盘车（Archaster typicus）等海星不会被污损，其背面有皮鳃（带有中央垂直支柱的改良小骨片），皮鳃的直径、高度和间距因物种以及在背面上的位置而异，为每个物种提供了独特而复杂的表面微观形貌。光滑海盘车、印氏辐肛参和多棘海盘车表面的润湿性适中，根据捕获气泡测量计算得出的平均海水接触角分别为60.1度、70.3度和57.3度。五角真叶海星的海水接触角无法测量。为了评估表面微观形貌对阻止污损生物附着的有效性，在澳大利亚汤斯维尔附近的三个地点，于旱季和雨季进行了为期8周的野外实验，使用这四种海星的树脂复制品。在旱季，任何地点的光滑海盘车、印氏辐肛参、五角真叶海星和多棘海盘车的复制品与对照表面之间，污损群落和总污损覆盖率均无显著差异。在雨季，在两个地点检测到海星复制品和对照表面上的污损群落存在显著差异。然而，这些差异是暂时的，在三个地点中的两个地点，海星复制品和对照表面之间的总污损覆盖率并无显著差异。与近期关于海洋环境中天然表面生物污损控制效果的文献相反，仅热带海星的表面微观形貌在阻止污损生物的附着和生长方面并不有效。
