Abstract
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.
Highlights
An effect reminiscent of the well-known strong similarities of dental plaques in the world’s population, despite differences in home location, tooth repair materials, and personal habits, has been noted in ballast water biofilms—the equivalent of dental plaques of the oceans
This research focused on the dental plaque analogy of dominant resident species by examining biofilms formed on various material coupons within the ballast tanks of transglobal, multiply ballasted ships travelling from ports in Israel through the Mediterranean Sea to the United States (US) east coast, through the Panama Canal, to the USWest coast, on to Japan, South Korea, and China in multiple round trips
When a steel nut was used as a weight to submerge sampling vials into the ballast tank water, green corrosion was observed within minutes of use indicating a probable electrochemical reaction. These findings indicate that current ballast tank wall coatings are not sufficiently able to resist cracking and underfilm corrosion, and are probably not releasing attached biofilms to the ballast exchange process
Summary
An effect reminiscent of the well-known strong similarities of dental plaques in the world’s population, despite differences in home location, tooth repair materials, and personal habits, has been noted in ballast water biofilms—the equivalent of dental plaques of the oceans. In addition to now-required bulk ballast water exchange, this suppression of the biodiversity of the world’s harbors and water bodies may still occur if there is not, required biofilm cleaning and conversion to recoverable biowaste at designated shore facilities. An interest of particular concern is the likely suppression of worldwide diversity of this biomass, as ships acquire, carry, and distribute the biota from port to port around the globe. It is not yet known whether suppression of bacterial biodiversity is taking place in distributed worldwide ports and waterbodies, or whether newly introduced species will be harmless or pathogenic. This research focused on the dental plaque analogy of dominant resident species by examining biofilms formed on various material coupons within the ballast tanks of transglobal, multiply ballasted ships travelling from ports in Israel through the Mediterranean Sea to the United States (US) east coast, through the Panama Canal, to the USWest coast, on to Japan, South Korea, and China in multiple round trips
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