Early Colonization of Algal Communities on Polyurethane Bonded Aggregate: a Field and Laboratory Study

• Published in: Journal of coastal research Vol. SI; no. 56; pp. 438 - 442
• Main Authors: Lock, M.C., van der Geest, H.G., Lazonder, C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Fort Lauderdale Coastal Education & Research Foundation (CERF) 01.01.2009; Allen Press Inc
• Subjects: Algae; Aquatic habitats; Basalt; Biodiversity; Biofilms; Coastal; Coastal ecology; Coastal Ecosystems; Coastal zone; Coastal zone management; Coasts; Colonization; Communities; Dikes; Enteromorpha; Environmental protection; Experiments; Flora; Fucus spiralis; Laboratories; Marine biology; Marine ecology; Polyurethane resins; Recovery; Revetments; Seasons; Species; Stone; Substrates; Urban structures; Vegetation; ANE, Netherlands
• ISSN: 0749-0208; 1551-5036

More and more coastlines are changing into urban structures. This change is marked by the application of a wide variety of different materials as revetments, often creating a hard substrate. The realization of such substrates can have large consequences for the flora and fauna inhabiting the coastal areas. Elastocoast® is such a new coastal protection material, made from rocks and polyurethane. It is a hard substrate but with an open structure and a smooth surface. This study examines the first phase of the recovery and growth of the algal community during the storm season of 2007-2008 on a dike in the Netherlands that was refurbished with Elastocoast®, and it describes a short term algal colonization experiment in the laboratory. In the field, 25 weeks after the construction of the Elastocoast® top layer, dike vegetation has returned, though strongly zonated and leaving large patches without any vegetation. Main algal species are Enteromorpha minima and Fucus spiralis. It is expected that the algal community will fully resemble typical hard substrate communities (as e.g. growing on basalt) when given enough time. The laboratory experiment showed that colonization by micro-algae is not hindered by the smooth surface and can be fast and substantial under favorable circumstances. Elastocoast® therefore seems to be a material which allows algal community recovery to be fast and according to the typical vegetation growing on hard substrates.