The International Marine Wood-Borer Network (IMWBN): Launch Edition

Marine wood-borers, including piddocks, shipworms, xylophagaids, chelurids, gribbles, and sphaeromatids, have shaped maritime history for centuries and remain a continual threat to coastal infrastructure and cultural heritage. Beyond their well-known interactions with human-built structures, these organisms play foundational ecological roles as keystone ecosystem engineers, driving habitat creation, nutrient release, and global carbon cycling – roles often overlooked due to a persistent pest-centred narrative. Marine wood-borers also underpin major advances in medicinal discovery and biotechnology through their symbiotic systems and represent an emerging frontier in blue-food research and sustainable protein production. Despite their broad significance, research on these organisms and public understanding of their value remain dispersed across disciplines and geographies. The International Marine Wood-Borer Network (IMWBN) was established to unite this diverse research community by providing a shared, global platform for collaboration and visibility across aquaculture, biology, ecology, engineering, heritage, medicinal chemistry, palaeontology and symbiosis. This Launch Edition sets out the rationale for the network, introduces its governance and values, and presents a synthesis of marine wood-borer research published during 2025. The review highlights emerging trends in biotechnology, symbiosis research, damage and durability studies, deep-time trace fossil analyses, and early-stage blue-food applications, while also identifying persistent gaps in fundamental organismal biology and global representation. By consolidating recent advances, recognising community contributions, and outlining a shared vision for the future, this report serves as both a foundational document for IMWBN and a citable annual reference capturing the evolving scope, priorities, and opportunities within marine wood-borer science.