Moore Foundation grantees at the University of Hawaii are investigating the mechanisms by which marine biofilm bacteria — bacteria that live in slime films on the surfaces of all objects submerged in the sea — induce the settling of larvae of marine invertebrate animals.
For more than a century, marine biologists have sought an understanding of how the minute larvae of marine invertebrate animals find and settle in the right ecological settings for survival, growth and reproduction.
The University of Hawaii research team will focus on a small tube worm, Hydroides elegans, that settles onto marine surfaces in warm ocean waters around the world and forms masses of hard, calcified tubes.
Hydroides elegans is a useful model organism for studying larval settlement and “biofouling” — the accumulation of undesirable organisms on ships and other vessels that could result in significant financial loss for maritime trade.
Read the full article here.
Message sent
Thank you for sharing.