Abstract
A GRADIENT of antibacterial activity along fronds of the large brown seaweed Laminaria1 runs opposite to gradients of density of bryozoans and spirorbid tube worms settled on the fronds2,3. Bryozoan colonies attached to a Laminaria frond grow towards the younger region4, where antibiotic production is lowest. It has been suggested that tannins produced by branch tips of Sargassum have an anti-fouling role5, but we have seen no other clear evidence of such an effect, although many marine plants and animals remain remarkably free from encrustation by other organisms6. We have now found further evidence in several examples of differential settlement by spirorbid worms on algae and by a bryozoan on another species of bryozoan.
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