Studies on the settlement and succession of macrofouling organisms in the Kalpakkam coastal waters, southeast coast of India

Abstract

<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family: " times="" new="" roman","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"times="" roman";mso-bidi-font-family:="" mangal;letter-spacing:.1pt;mso-ansi-language:en-gb;mso-fareast-language:en-us;="" mso-bidi-language:hi"="" lang="EN-GB">Study was carried out to evaluate the fouling pattern, dominant species and their seasonal succession in waters of east coast of India. Three series (weekly, monthly and cumulative) of teak wood panels were exposed to coastal waters.<span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:" times="" new="" roman","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"times="" roman";="" mso-bidi-font-family:mangal;letter-spacing:.1pt;mso-ansi-language:en-gb;="" mso-fareast-language:en-us;mso-bidi-language:hi"="" lang="EN-GB"> <span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" times="" new="" roman","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:="" "times="" roman";mso-bidi-font-family:mangal;letter-spacing:.1pt;mso-ansi-language:="" en-gb;mso-fareast-language:en-us;mso-bidi-language:hi"="" lang="EN-GB">There is wide variation in the colonization of the biofoulers on the weekly panels.&nbsp;&nbsp; The lowest and the highest numbers of organisms observed were between 1 and 136 per cm², respectively. Dominance of barnacles (12.4-99%) on weekly panels was found throughout the year. Sizeable contribution (~7% of the total density) of oyster settlement was observed for the first time from this locality. Pattern of ecological succession observed was <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight:bold">barnacles - hydroids - sea anemones - ascidians and finally green mussels. Weekly results, available for the first time for this locality, form the baseline data for future reference and impact assessment studies. Biofouling biomass (g. per 100 cm²) of weekly panels varied between 1 and 11, however, a steep increase in biomass was observed in cumulative panels. These biomass values compared well with earlier results. Total number of fouling taxa observed was only 30. A shift in the peak settlement period of green mussels, was observed as compared to the earlier report. Environmental parameters such as salinity, chlorophyll and phytoplankton density appeared to have significant (p≥ 0.01) contribution on biofouling settlement.</span></span></span></span>