Short-term succession of marine microbial fouling communities and the identification of primary and secondary colonizers.

Microbial succession during the initial stages of marine biofouling has been rarely studied, especially in the Arabian Gulf. This study was undertaken to follow temporal shifts in biofouling communities in order to identify primary and secondary colonizers. Quantitative analysis revealed a significant increase in total biomass, coverage of macrofoulers, chlorophyll concentrations, and bacterial counts with time.