Post #3 Part 1 in a series from students working in the Wyeth lab this summer. This time it’s Mike Murtaugh working with Tia Landry and Aaron Cogger – working on several biofouling projects.
Mike says: as part of the biofouling research team in the Wyeth Lab, my master’s degree project focusses on contributing to the body of knowledge regarding the use of ultraviolet (UV) light for antifouling purposes and it has provided me with a fascinating view into the life history of the many biofouling members. By recording early recruitment and larval availability throughout the summer months of last year, many larval stages with intriguing shapes have been photographed and paired with their benthic counterparts.
Meroplankton are images 1-8 and early biofouling members are A-C – all are from Nova Scotian coastal waters (scale bars = 250 µm). The eight members of the meroplanktonic community are: (1) Echinopluteus larva; (2) Ophiopluteus larva; (3) Auricularia larva; (4) Bipinnaria larva; (5) Cyphonautes larva; (6) Anenome larva; (7) Pilidium larva; and (8) Cyprid larva; and the three members of a one-week-old biofouling community are: (A) Ophiothrix fragilis (matches with #2); (B) Semibalanus balanoides (matches with #8); and (C) Membranipora membranacea (matches #5)
Additionally, I am assessing the effect that a minimal UV light treatment has on biofouling communities, by tracking biofouling development on glass surfaces with and without a UV treatment at two Nova Scotian locations through photo-analysis. With these methods, I have found some interesting results from last summer, including changes in community composition caused by the UV treatment which subsequently affected biofouling diversity. Although these results are quite interesting and have important implications, this summer I will repeat my methodology, expecting to expand on these results and further test my hypotheses.
Wyeth Lab 