Abstract

Pelagic biofoulers such as barnacles or bryozoans settle and raft on natural debris like pumice or seeds. Recent influxes of marine debris into the world’s oceans, especially plastic, have increased habitat availability for these biofoulers. Goose barnacles in the genus Lepas are some of the most common biofouling taxa globally, and play an important role in biofouling communities as foundation species. We examined community succession, growth rates and isotopic composition in Lepas and their associated biofouling communities in coastal waters of eastern Australia. Community succession on a fixed surface mooring showed an increase in species diversity over 25 weeks. Using the abundances of L. anserifera, L. anatifera, and the amphipods Caprella danilevskii and Jassa slatteryi, we created an equation to estimate minimum duration at sea. Predators such as the polychaete Amphinome rostrata may influence the biofouling community, as can beach scavengers once floating debris is cast ashore. We report a new maximum growth rate for L. anserifera of 1.45 mm⁻¹, and our study is the first to report growth rates for any species of Lepas faster than 1 mm day⁻¹. Lepas were larger on moored floats than on smaller, free-floating drifters. δ¹⁸O content of Lepas shells was a robust predictor of sea surface temperatures during formation for L. anatifera and L. anserifera. Our findings have important applications for estimating drift duration and trajectories of marine debris.

Graphic abstract

中文翻译：

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基于Lepas的生物污损群落在系泊和漂流物体上的生态学及其在海洋法医学上的应用

摘要

浮游生物污物（如藤壶或苔藓虫）在浮石或种子等天然碎片上定居并漂流。最近，海洋垃圾（特别是塑料）涌入世界海洋，增加了这些生物污物的栖息地可用性。在鹅属藤壶六拜是一些最常见的生物污染类群的全球性和生物污染社区为基础的物种中发挥重要作用。我们在澳大利亚东部沿海水域的Lepas及其相关的生物污染群落中研究了群落演替，增长率和同位素组成。在固定的表面系泊上的群落演替表明，在25周内物种多样性有所增加。使用的丰度L. anserifera，L. anatifera，以及两栖类动物Caprella danilevskii和Jassa slatteryi，我们创建了一个方程来估算海上的最小持续时间。捕食者，例如多毛A Amphinome rostrata，可能会影响生物污染群落，一旦将漂浮的碎片抛到岸上，海滩的拾荒者也会受到影响。我们报告了新的最大长颈鹿L. anserifera的生长速率为1.45 mm ^-1，并且我们的研究首次报告了任何种类的Lepas的生长速率都快于1 mm day ^-1。六拜为上比小，自由浮动的漂流停泊浮动较大。δ ¹⁸ O含量勒帕壳可以很好地预测L. anatifera和L. anserifera形成期间的海面温度。我们的发现对估算海浪碎片的漂流持续时间和轨迹具有重要的应用价值。

图形摘要