摘要：

This invention relates to an article comprising a bio-supportive media which bio-degrades at a preferred rate, comprising at least one bio-limiting agent and at least one nutritional source on a substrate. The media may be characterized as a polymer, composite, or amalgam of commonly used materials. The invention relates to altering the physical/chemical composition of the media such that biodegradation can occur at a specific, usually accelerated, preferred rate. Further, the biodegradation rate may be managed and balanced concurrently with the ability to provide for the exposure of integral component(s) which are bio-active. This relationship essentially provides for a managed release or managed availability of agent(s) which creates a new set of ecological conditions. These sustained conditions can maintain a micro-habitat; a limited consort of species, often slime which, due to this ecological trophic niche position, can utilize innate allelopathic means to further protect their position and deter predation. The relationships of the nutrients, bio-limiters, and biomass comprise a unique micro-habitat as an interface which provides protection from corrosion and deterioration of the substrate upon which it is fixed, and limits the biomass accumulation on the surface thereby providing control of fouling by reducing higher order organism(s) attachments, which otherwise are very economically costly.

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