Mike Murtaugh successfully defended his MSc thesis earlier in August and has just submitted his final thesis.  His thesis (title: Changes in Biofouling Composition Mediated by a Sub-Optimal UV-C Antifouling Treatment and the Relationship Between Larval Availability and Recruitment) involves two rather independent chapters. The first examines the effect of very low UV dosing on biofouling community composition. The idea was to explore what may happen at the margins of UV antifouling illumination, and what happened, at least sometimes,  was community composition change. The second tracks a number of time series relevant to biofouling community composition: larval abundances in the plankton, young recruits, and later abundances in fouling communities. He found, as expected,  that propagule pressure, settlement, and/or later growth can variably contribute to producing biofouling communities observed in our local waters.  A fantastic achievement!  Next up: Mike is sticking around to complete his PhD, again focusing on a mix of biofouling and antifouling science.