Meeting Abstract
Previous investigations suggest that variation in surface properties affects the attachment of biofouling organisms. It is not possible, however, to combine the results of these investigations to produce a comprehensive view of how surface properties determine patterns of attachment. We have addressed this problem by exposing several types of biofouling organisms to a library of xerogel coatings, spanning a wide range of surface properties. Xerogels are economically and environmentally friendly coatings that provide smooth, reproducible, optically clear surfaces. The surfaces were characterized using a variety of techniques. Results from the surface characterization and biological assays were analyzed separately and in combination using multivariate statistical methods. Initial analyses using 10 different surface characterization variables and the results of attachment assays with larvae of the barnacles Balanus amphitrite and B. improvisus, and the bryozoan Bugula neritina, indicated that the surface characterization and the organismal response grouped the coatings differently. In particular, the biofouling organisms were able to distinguish four coatings that were not differentiable by their surface properties. We used canonical analysis of principal coordinates (CAP) to identify important materials properties governing attachment across all 3 species. The CAP pointed to surface energy and surface charge as important drivers of patterns in attachment, but also suggested that differentiation of the surfaces was influenced to a comparable or greater extent by the dispersion component of surface energy.
