Hunsucker Kelli Zargiel, Koka Abhishek, Lund Geir, Swain Geoffrey
a Center for Corrosion and Biofouling Control , Florida Institute of Technology , Melbourne , FL , USA.
Biofouling. 2014 Oct;30(9):1133-40. doi: 10.1080/08927014.2014.974576.
Diatoms are an important component of marine biofilms found on ship hulls. However, there are only a few published studies that describe the presence and abundance of diatoms on ships, and none that relate to modern ship hull coatings. This study investigated the diatom community structure on two in-service cruise ships with the same cruise cycles, one coated with an antifouling (AF) system (copper self-polishing copolymer) and the other coated with a silicone fouling-release (FR) system. Biofilm samples were collected during dry docking from representative areas of the ship and these provided information on the horizontal and vertical zonation of the hull, and intact and damaged coating and niche areas. Diatoms from the genera Achnanthes, Amphora and Navicula were the most common, regardless of horizontal ship zonation and coating type. Other genera were abundant, but their presence was more dependent on the ship zonation and coating type. Samples collected from damaged areas of the hull coating had a similar community composition to undamaged areas, but with higher diatom abundance. Diatom fouling on the niche areas differed from that of the surrounding ship hull and paralleled previous studies that investigated differences in diatom community structure on static and dynamically exposed coatings; niche areas were similar to static immersion and the hull to dynamic immersion. Additionally, diatom richness was greater on the ship with the FR coating, including the identification of several new genera to the biofouling literature, viz. Lampriscus and Thalassiophysa. These results are the first to describe diatom community composition on in-service ship hulls coated with a FR system. This class of coatings appears to have a larger diatom community compared to copper-based AF systems, with new diatom genera that have the ability to stick to ship hulls and withstand hydrodynamic forces, thus creating the potential for new problematic species in the biofilm.
硅藻是船体上发现的海洋生物膜的重要组成部分。然而，仅有少数已发表的研究描述了船舶上硅藻的存在和丰度，且没有一项研究涉及现代船体涂层。本研究调查了两艘具有相同巡航周期的在役游轮上的硅藻群落结构，一艘涂有防污（AF）系统（铜自抛光共聚物），另一艘涂有硅酮防污释放（FR）系统。在船舶进坞期间，从船舶的代表性区域采集生物膜样本，这些样本提供了有关船体水平和垂直分区、完整和受损涂层以及生态位区域的信息。无论船舶水平分区和涂层类型如何，曲壳藻属、双眉藻属和舟形藻属的硅藻最为常见。其他属的硅藻数量较多，但其存在更依赖于船舶分区和涂层类型。从船体涂层受损区域采集的样本与未受损区域具有相似的群落组成，但硅藻丰度更高。生态位区域的硅藻污损与周围船体的不同，这与之前研究静态和动态暴露涂层上硅藻群落结构差异的研究结果一致；生态位区域类似于静态浸没，而船体类似于动态浸没。此外，涂有FR涂层的船舶上的硅藻丰富度更高，包括鉴定出生物污损文献中的几个新属，即Lampriscus属和Thalassiophysa属。这些结果首次描述了涂有FR系统的在役船体上的硅藻群落组成。与铜基AF系统相比，这类涂层似乎具有更大的硅藻群落，有能够附着在船体上并承受流体动力的新硅藻属，因此有可能在生物膜中形成新的问题物种。
