by Alexander I. Railkin

• Examines the colonization processes that determine the formation of hard substrate communities
• Explains the causes of micro- and macroorganism concentration on water/hard body interfaces
• Constructs mathematical models for colonization processes and biofouling control
• Analyzes the common causes of colonization of man-made structures
• Reviews the main groups of foulers, from microorganisms to invertebrates to macroalgae
• Details the biological mechanisms and principles of ecologically safe defenses against biofouling

Marine Biofouling: Colonization Processes and Defenses is the English language version of a comprehensive work by eminent Russian scientist Alexander I. Railkin, who details the causes of vast biomass concentrations on submerged hard substrates. He also delivers a quantitative description of colonization processes and provides detailed models for preventing biofouling.

This volume expounds on many topics rarely discussed in the frame of one book: types of hard substrate communities; comparison of hard and soft substrate communities; harm caused by micro- and macrofoulers; larval taxes and drift; mechanisms of settlement and attachment of microorganisms, invertebrates, ascidians and macroalgae; the impact of currents; protection from epibionts; industrial biofouling protection; successions on hard substrates; and the recovery of disturbed communities or the self-assembly of communities. The text includes much Russian-language research translated for the first time.

Through a thorough examination of substrate organisms and an exploration of preventive methods, this monograph prepares those concerned with marine biology to help protect the self-purifying organisms that keep marine ecosystems healthy and productive.

Contents

1. Communities on Submerged Hard Bodies
   • Organisms and Communities Inhabiting Surfaces of Hard Bodies
   • The Phenomenon of Organisms Concentration on Surfaces of Hard Bodies
   • Biofouling as a Source of Technical Obstacles

2. Biofouling as a Process
   • Colonization
   • Primary Succession
   • Recovery Successions
   • Self-Assembly of Communities

3. Temporary Planktonic Existence
   • Release of Dispersal Forms into Plankton
   • Buoyancy and Locomotion of Propagules
   • Taxes and Vertical Distribution of Larvae
   • The Offshore and Oceanic Drift

4. Settlement of Larvae
   • The Reasons of Passing over to Periphytonic Existence
   • Taxes and Distribution of Larvae During Settlement
   • Sensory Systems Participating in the Substrate Selection
   • Selectivity During Settlement

5. Induction and Stimulation of Settlement by a Hard Surface
   • Types of Induction and Stimulation of Settlement
   • Distant Chemical Induction
   • Contact Heterospecific Chemical Induction
   • Conspecific Chemical Induction and Aggregations
   • Stimulation of Settlement, Attachment, and Metamorphosis by Microfouling
   • The Influence of Physical Surface Factors on Settlement
   • Combined Influence of Surface Factors on Settlement. The Hierarchy of Factors
   • Settlement on the Surface Technical Objects

6. Attachment, Development and Growth
   • Attachment of Microorganisms
   • Mechanisms of Attachment of Larvae and Spores of Macroorganisms
   • Natural Inductors of Settlement, Attachment, and Metamorphosis
   • Universal Mechanisms of Attachment
   • Growth and Colonization of the Hard surface

7. Fundamentals of the Quantitative Theory of Colonization
   • Mathematical Models of Accumulation
   • Mathematical Models of Feeding and Growth
   • Gradient Distribution of Foulers over Surfaces in a Flow

8. General Regularities of Biofouling
   • Causes, Mechanisms, and Limits of Biofouling Concentration on Hard Surfaces
   • Evolution of Hard-Substrate Communities

9. Protection of Man-Made Structures Against Biofouling
   • Physical Protection
   • Commercial Chemobiocidal Protection
   • Ecological Consequences of Toxicant Application

10. Ecologically Safe Protection from Biofouling
    • Defense Against Epibionts
    • Natural and Industrial Anticolonization Protection
    • Repellent Protection
    • Antiadhesive Protection
    • Biocidal Protection
    • Prospects of Developing Ecologically Safe Anticolonization Protection

11. The General Model of Protection against Biofouling

Index

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