Zeitschrift für Biodiversität, Bioprospektion und Entwicklung

Suppressing Biodiversity in the World's Waterbodies: Ballast Biofilms are the Dental Plaque of the Oceans

Abstract

Robert E. Baier, Dean C. Lundquist, Robert L. Forsberg and Anne E. Meyer

Ships that have ballasted and de-ballasted in common world harbors, visited by numerous other ships, acquired a similar dominant population of biofilm-dwelling microbiota at their ballast tank walls and sediments. Secondary spread of the microorganisms to receiving waters has been demonstrated to occur by seeding from the biofilm to those waters and bounding surfaces, as well as by bioaerosol generation from ballast discharge plumes. This work was facilitated by installing, and subsequently analyzing, material test coupons within Ballast Organic Biofilm (BOB) samplers in the ships’ ballast tanks. Supplementary data were acquired from shipboard-mounted flow cells during the voyages. Five specific “benchmark” bacterial species were common in these retained biofilms in spite of the different substratum materials of coatings, tank walls, and re-suspendable sediments.