Adhesion of Enteromorpha swarmers to microbial films.

Laboratory experiments were conducted to determine the effect of bacterial films on adhesion of Enteromorpha sp. reproductive swarmer cells. Swarmers always attached in greater numbers to filmed than to unfilmed polystyrene surfaces. Surface energy measurements produced higher values on filmed surfaces than on unfilmed surfaces. Our data indicate that this higher surface energy may contribute to the increased adhesion by the algal swarmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]