Dataset of biofouling epibionts on microalgae compiled from literature and environmental variables from open access databases

Macroalgae are increasingly studied for their critical contributions to
coastal ecosystems, their potential to mitigate climate change, and their
promise as a sustainable food source. While wild macroalgae host diverse
epiphytic and invertebrate epibiont communities that enhance biodiversity
and ecosystem functioning, biofouling epibionts on farmed macroalgae can
negatively impact growth, physiology, and product quality. Although an
increasing number of longitudinal studies are trying to establish the
drivers of macroalgae biofouling, localized approaches are lacking
sufficient contrasts in environmental conditions to reveal macroecological
patterns in epibiont occurrence. To gain these contrasts, we analyze data
on macroalgae and epibiont taxonomy, study location, and environmental
conditions that we have compiled from a systematic literature review and
from the Marine Copernicus and NASA OBPG databases of marine data. Our
results show that 58.18% of macroalgae epibiont studies focus on the
North-East Atlantic coast, which is particularly useful in understanding
the potential for expansion of seaweed aquaculture in this region.
Bryozoan fouling depends on sea surface temperature (SST), and an
increased biofouling risk was predicted for latitudes greater than 58° in
the NE Atlantic coast and around coastal areas in Scotland with cold
freshwater inflows. Hydrozoans and gastropods showed a higher probability
of occurring on farmed or planted as opposed to wild kelp, whereas
gastropods tended to be absent at salinities lower than 30 psu. Our
findings provide a first basis for understanding seaweed biofouling risks
in the North-East Atlantic and can serve for spatial planning of the
positioning of new seaweed farms.