Gribbles – Importance

Music; Ambience: ocean

Gribbles are tiny almost microscopic marine creatures which have found their place in the world — they bore into wood, attacking ships and destroying docks, in their search for food and shelter. I’m Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet. The damage done by gribbles ends up costing hundreds of millions of dollars each year, but their wood boring activities aren’t all bad. In fact, the world would be a very different place without the gribble. Paul Boyle is the director of the Osborne Laboratories of Marine Science.

“They’re very important in the ocean. Most people don’t think about it, but lots of wood ends up in our rivers and estuaries – and if we didn’t have these animals to break down the wood, our estuaries and beach areas would be covered with wood from long history of wood floating down rivers – or storms throwing logs and things back up on the beaches.”

On land, the degradation of wood is carried out principally by fungi, but because this kind of decay isn’t as active in the ocean environment — there the gribble’s role becomes even more important.

“They’re very small, but they’re very abundant. What happens in the oceans and in our estuarine areas is that the gribbles take on a much larger role in reducing wood to smaller particles that bacteria and other microorganisms can then continue to degrade. So they’ve filled a niche in the ocean that’s assumed by other organisms in the forest.”

To hear about our new Pulse of the Planet CD, please visit our website at pulseplanet.com. Pulse of the Planet is presented with support provided by the National Science Foundation. I’m Jim Metzner.

Gribbles - Importance

Gribbles are an essential "cleanup crew" for our oceans and estuaries.

Air Date:04/21/2004

Scientist:

Transcript:

Gribbles - Importance

Music; Ambience: ocean

Gribbles are tiny almost microscopic marine creatures which have found their place in the world -- they bore into wood, attacking ships and destroying docks, in their search for food and shelter. I'm Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet. The damage done by gribbles ends up costing hundreds of millions of dollars each year, but their wood boring activities aren't all bad. In fact, the world would be a very different place without the gribble. Paul Boyle is the director of the Osborne Laboratories of Marine Science.

"They're very important in the ocean. Most people don't think about it, but lots of wood ends up in our rivers and estuaries - and if we didn't have these animals to break down the wood, our estuaries and beach areas would be covered with wood from long history of wood floating down rivers - or storms throwing logs and things back up on the beaches."

On land, the degradation of wood is carried out principally by fungi, but because this kind of decay isn't as active in the ocean environment -- there the gribble's role becomes even more important.

"They're very small, but they're very abundant. What happens in the oceans and in our estuarine areas is that the gribbles take on a much larger role in reducing wood to smaller particles that bacteria and other microorganisms can then continue to degrade. So they've filled a niche in the ocean that's assumed by other organisms in the forest."

To hear about our new Pulse of the Planet CD, please visit our website at pulseplanet.com. Pulse of the Planet is presented with support provided by the National Science Foundation. I'm Jim Metzner.