I-Corps: Constructing an Artificial Reef to Improve the Marine Ecosystem

人工珊瑚礁有助于促进细菌、藻类、珊瑚和苔藓虫等海洋生物的生长，并为鱼类、螃蟹、龙虾和一些海洋无脊椎动物等物种提供栖息地和食物来源。该项目将EPA绿色技术的12项原则应用于纤维素表面，该表面被营养物质覆盖，以促进海洋微生物的快速生长，海洋微生物是海洋食物链的基础。这种在被淹没几天后开始的快速生长，开启了食物链。附着在纤维素基材料上的矿物基基材比水密度大，使整个结构能够下沉；纤维素和矿物基材料都会降解，为微生物、珊瑚、无脊椎动物等留下成核点。珊瑚礁完全由可生物降解的材料建造，生产成本很经济。提出的方法将纤维素与硅酸盐和营养物（CeNS）结合起来，为海洋生物提供成核和生长的表面。在过去的十年里，PI的实验室开发了这种方法，培养产生海洋天然产物的海洋细菌。该团队打算以初步结果为基础，涉及碳酸盐基生物（如牡蛎，珊瑚），幼虫生长的地方（如鱼，虾和章鱼），并为鱼群提供食物来源和庇护所。该团队已经开始在佛罗里达狭长地带和佛罗里达群岛测试其绿色技术方法。虽然自古以来就有人使用木材作为海洋生物的生长和庇护介质，但使用纤维素的营养混合物来选择性地促进和加速某些物种的生长是独一无二的。

Artificial reefs serve a useful purpose to promote the growth of sessile marine organisms such as bacteria, algae, corals, and bryozoans as well as providing a habitat and food source for species such as fish, crabs, lobsters, and some marine invertebrates. This project applies the EPA's 12 Principles of Green Technology to a cellulose based surface that is coated in nutrients to promote the rapid growth of marine microbes, the base of the marine food chain. This rapid growth, which begins days after being submerged, starts the food chain. The mineral based substrate attached to the cellulose based material is denser than water to allow the entire structure to sink; both the cellulose and mineral based materials will degrade leaving behind nucleation sites for microbes, corals, invertebrate collections, and more. The reef is constructed entirely from biodegradable materials and production costs are economical. The proposed approach combines cellulose with silicates and nutrients (CeNS) to provide a surface for marine life to nucleate and grow. This approach was developed in the PI's lab over the past decade raising marine bacteria that produced marine natural products. The team intends to build on the preliminary results involving carbonate based organisms (i.e. oysters, coral), a place for larvae to grow (i.e. fish, shrimp and octopus), and to provide a food source and shelter for schools of fish. This team has started testing its green technology approach in the Florida panhandle and the Florida Keys. While the use of wood as a growth and shelter medium for marine life has been practiced since ancient times, the use of a nutrient mix with cellulose to selectively encourage and accelerate certain species is unique.