MarineGEO Fouling Community Monitoring Protocol

online resource

posted on 2021-07-09, 19:02 authored by Dean Janiak, Tennenbaum Marine Observatories Network, MarineGEO

"MarineGEO Fouling Community Monitoring Protocol" provides a standard design for fouling community monitoring, including the following: measuring percent cover of fouling species during monthly intervals (30, 60, and 90 days) and biomass of the entire community, obtaining a detailed list of all sessile fauna, and identification and enumeration of associated mobile fauna (optional). This resource includes a PDF document with step-by-step methods, a data entry sheet to print, and an excel workbook to use for data submission.

Fouling communities are a diverse group of marine species that inhabit hard surfaces and are ubiquitous throughout coastal waters. These communities have long been used as a model system for a variety of ecological questions including community assembly, impacts of non-native species and invasion resistance, disturbance, and predator-prey interactions.

We thank Gustavo Dias, Matt Whalen, and Kelley Savage for thoughtful feedback on the initial draft of these protocols.

MarineGEO partners are required to conduct the Sampling Event and Environmental Monitoring Protocol alongside this protocol: https://doi.org/10.25573/serc.14555511