Fouling community

Fouling communities are communities organisms found on the sides of docks, marinas, harbors, and boats throughout the world. These communities are characterized by the presence of a variety of sessile organisms including ascidians, bryozoans, mussels, tube building polychaetes, sea anemones, and more. Common predators on and around fouling communities include small crabs, starfish, fish, limpets, chitons, and other gastropods.

Fouling communities were highlighted particularly in the literature of marine ecology as a potential example of alternate stable states through the work of John Sutherland in the 1970s at UNC [Sutherland, J.P. 1974. [http://www.jstor.org/view/00030147/di006169/00p0292h/0 Multiple Stable Points in Natural Communities] . American Naturalist. 108: 859-873] , although this was later called into question by Connell and Sousa [Connell, JH, and WP Sousa. 1983. [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003-0147(198306)121%3A6%3C789%3AOTENTJ%3E2.0.CO%3B2-S On the Evidence Needed to Judge Ecological Stability or Persistence] . American Naturalist 121: 789-824.] .

Notes

External links

http://www.ncl.ac.uk/barnacles is the Newcastle University barnacle and biofouling information site.