A German term for “surface growth” or “overgrowth”. A community of small animals and plants that adhere to surfaces in aquatic environments. Green algae and diatoms make up the dominant component of an aufwuchs. Small crustaceans, rotifers, and protozoans are also commonly found in both fresh water and marine aufwuchs faunas, while insect larvae, oligochaetes and tardigrades are peculiar to freshwater aufwuchs faunas. An English pronunciation might be “OWF-vooks”.