Life Sciences Commons^™

Temperature Affects Adhesion Of The Acorn Barnacle (Balanus Amphitrite), Laurel A. Johnston

Master's Theses

Biofouling is the accumulation of sessile marine organisms, such as algae, tube worms and barnacles on man-made substrata and has negative economic and ecological implications. Ship hulls are readily fouled, which significantly increases drag while decreasing ship fuel efficiency when moving through water. Fouled hulls have also become important vectors of invasive species. These problems are minimized when hulls are painted with a toxic anti-fouling or non-toxic foul-release coating. Due to recent restrictions of anti-fouling paint use, research and development of non-toxic alternatives has increased.

Novel hull coating efficiency is often quantified by the critical removal stress value of barnacles …