Marine Biofouling : Colonization Processes and Defenses

This highly respected work by the eminent Alexander Railken delivers a quantitative description of colonization processes and detailing ways to prevent biofouling. Taking a complex problem, he breaks it down into its fundamental ecological and biological components. Providing a depth of coverage rarely found in a single text, he expounds on organism locomotor reactions, larvae drift, settlement and attachment mechanisms, current impact, protection from epibionts, industrial biofouling protection, and ecological biofouling control. Offering a detailed examination of substrate organisms and preventive methods, this volume elaborates on how we can protect self-purifying organisms from biofoulers.

Recent instances of bioinvasion, such as the emergence of the zebra mussel in the American Great Lakes, generated a demand among marine biologists and ecologists for groundbreaking new references that detail how organisms colonize hard substrates, and how to prevent damaging biomass concentrations.

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.