Marine epibiosis

Wahl, Martin; Lafargue, F.

doi:10.1007/bf00323545

Cited by 32 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 18 publications

(16 reference statements)

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“…There are probably no marine organisms whose surface is free of epibiotic bacteria and only very few continuously exhibit an almost sterile surface such as some colonial didemnid ascidians (Wahl and Lafargue, 1990). The vast majority of marine organisms bear epibiotic biofilms of variable density and composition (e.g., Lachnit et al, 2009; Grossart, 2010).…”

Section: Microbial Communities Associated With Macroorganisms In the mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Second Skin: Ecological Role of Epibiotic Biofilms on Marine Organisms

Wahl¹,

Goecke²,

Labes³

et al. 2012

Front. Microbio.

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378

314

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In the aquatic environment, biofilms on solid surfaces are omnipresent. The outer body surface of marine organisms often represents a highly active interface between host and biofilm. Since biofilms on living surfaces have the capacity to affect the fluxes of information, energy, and matter across the host’s body surface, they have an important ecological potential to modulate the abiotic and biotic interactions of the host. Here we review existing evidence how marine epibiotic biofilms affect their hosts’ ecology by altering the properties of and processes across its outer surfaces. Biofilms have a huge potential to reduce its host’s access to light, gases, and/or nutrients and modulate the host’s interaction with further foulers, consumers, or pathogens. These effects of epibiotic biofilms may intensely interact with environmental conditions. The quality of a biofilm’s impact on the host may vary from detrimental to beneficial according to the identity of the epibiotic partners, the type of interaction considered, and prevailing environmental conditions. The review concludes with some unresolved but important questions and future perspectives.

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Section: Microbial Communities Associated With Macroorganisms In the mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Second Skin: Ecological Role of Epibiotic Biofilms on Marine Organisms

Wahl¹,

Goecke²,

Labes³

et al. 2012

Front. Microbio.

Self Cite

378

314

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…We selected bryozoans as the test phylum for this study because they form a hard substrate that is adequate for growth of other bryozoan species and exhibit both overgrowth competition and epibiotic relationships 10, 16, 17 . In addition, there is a suite of demonstrably native and introduced bryozoan species in Australia 30 .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Seventy (ten for each of the seven inoculating species) 50 × 76 mm plain clear glass slides were maintained in 20 L aquaria with FSW and conditioned for 14 days as control settlement substrates, allowing a biofilm to establish 16 . FSW medium was changed every second day.…”

Section: Experimental Test Substratesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Biofouling species represent a disproportionate number of total recognised invasions and impacts 1, 2 resulting in global concern 15 . Entry into space limited systems requires new recruits to find suitable free substrate to settle and grow, however any free substrate can quickly become colonised during periods of high recruitment pressure 13, 16 . Settlement however is not restricted to inanimate substrates and frequently occurs on the living surfaces of marine biota.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, negative impacts are generally cited as outweighing benefits for many marine invertebrates 16–21 . The external surfaces of most sessile and sedentary species serve as a medium for exchange of numerous substances including nutrients, waste, defensive metabolites, gas, and release of spores or larvae 21 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Epibiotic pressure contributes to biofouling invader success

Leonard

Hewitt

Campbell

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

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Reduced competition is a frequent explanation for the success of many introduced species. In benthic marine biofouling communities, space limitation leads to high rates of overgrowth competition. Some species can utilise other living organisms as substrate (epibiosis), proffering a competitive advantage for the epibiont. Additionally, some species can prevent or reduce epibiotic settlement on their surfaces and avoid being basibionts. To test whether epibiotic pressure differs between native and introduced species, we undertook ex situ experiments comparing bryozoan larval settlement to determine if introduced species demonstrate a greater propensity to settle as epibionts, and a reduced propensity to be basibionts, than native species. Here we report that introduced species opportunistically settle on any space (bare, native, or introduced), whereas native species exhibit a strong tendency to settle on and near other natives, but avoid settling on or near introduced basibionts. In addition, larvae of native species experience greater larval wastage (mortality) than introduced species, both in the presence and absence of living substrates. Introduced species’ ability to settle on natives as epibionts, and in turn avoid epibiosis as basibionts, combined with significantly enhanced native larval wastage, provides a comprehensive suite of competitive advantages contributing to the invasion success of these biofouling species.

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Women in tunicate research: Pioneers of the past and their present legacy

Nydam,

Saffo,

Di Gregorio

2023

Genesis

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SummaryThe search for female scientists who pioneered the research on tunicates is hindered by the tradition of reporting only the first initials of authors' names on scientific publications using only the initials of their first names. While this practice has the theoretical merit of broadening the readership by preventing the possible bias that could be caused by the gender of the author(s) in some of the readers, it rendered the identification of female researchers active in, or before, the first half of the 20th century quite challenging. Sifting through several dozen electronic records, and with the help of references and/or quotes found online, we have stitched together the information that we were able to retrieve on the life of female scientists who authored some of the earliest publications on tunicates, and we have organized them in (approximate) chronological order. We have also compiled brief synopses of the findings of scientists active in the field of tunicate biology in more recent times, and organized them by subdiscipline.

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Marine epibiosis

Cited by 32 publications

References 18 publications

The Second Skin: Ecological Role of Epibiotic Biofilms on Marine Organisms

The Second Skin: Ecological Role of Epibiotic Biofilms on Marine Organisms

Epibiotic pressure contributes to biofouling invader success

Women in tunicate research: Pioneers of the past and their present legacy

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