Rogers Students Study Spread of Invasives by Boats

From Nepwort Public Schools:

While school was out for the summer, Rogers High School Biology teacher Scott Dickison and 3 of his students were busy at work. They participated in the iBarge project based out of Bates College in Maine. iBarge stands for Invasive Bryozoan and Ascidian Recruitment and Growth Experiment. Newport was selected as a test site along with 50 additional sites across 8 countries. The project leader contacted Dickison and asked for his assistance with the Newport location.

The students deployed and monitored arrays of PVC panels off a dock at Fort Adams. The goals were to establish growth rates and competitive ability of invasive ascidians (sea squirts) and bryozoans, to catalogue seasonal changes in fouling communities, and to use seasonal growth and recruitment data to predict the impact of invasive species.

This project focuses on invasive ascidians and bryozoans, which both grow on hard artificial surfaces like boats, docks, and aquaculture equipment. These are called fouling species, which can be transported by boats and can account for up to 80% of aquaculture costs. Preventing the spread of these species is a major goal. The species that were focused on are widespread in the US and the world.