Environmental impact of kelp (Saccharina latissima) aquaculture.

The aim of the study was to assess the effect of seaweed cultivation on the coastal environment. We analysed a multitude of environmental parameters using an asymmetrical before after control impact (BACI) design, comparing the seaweed farm (impact) with multiple unaffected locations (controls). The seaweed farm had a significant positive effect on benthic infauna (p<0.

Socioeconomic prospects of a seaweed bioeconomy in Sweden.

Seaweed cultivation is a large industry worldwide, but production in Europe is small compared to production in Asian countries. In the EU, the motivations for seaweed farming may be seen from two perspectives; one being economic growth through biomass production and the other being the provisioning of ecosystem services such as mitigating eutrophication. In this paper, we assess the economic potential of large-scale cultivation of kelp, Saccharina latissima, along the Swedish west coast, including the value of externalities.

Genetic divergence and phenotypic plasticity contribute to variation in cuticular hydrocarbons in the seaweed fly .

Cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) form the boundary between insects and their environments and often act as essential cues for species, mate, and kin recognition. This complex polygenic trait can be highly variable both among and within species, but the causes of this variation, especially the genetic basis, are largely unknown. In this study, we investigated phenotypic and genetic variation of CHCs in the seaweed fly, and found that composition was affected by both genetic (sex and population) and environmental (larval diet) factors.

Underpinning the Development of Seaweed Biotechnology: Cryopreservation of Brown Algae () Gametophytes.

Sugar kelp () is an economically important species, and natural populations provide diverse and productive habitats as well as important ecosystem services. For seaweed aquaculture to be successful in newly emerging industry in Europe and other Western countries, it will have to develop sustainable production management strategies. A key feature in this process is the capacity to conserve genetic diversity for breeding programs aimed at developing seed stock for onward cultivation, as well as in the management of wild populations, as potentially interesting genetic resources are predicted to disappear due to climate change.

The impact of seaweed cultivation on ecosystem services - a case study from the west coast of Sweden.

Seaweed cultivation attracts growing interest and sustainability assessments from various perspectives are needed. The paper presents a holistic qualitative assessment of ecosystem services affected by seaweed cultivation on the Swedish west coast. Results suggest that supporting, regulating and provisioning services are mainly positively or non-affected while some of the cultural services are likely negatively affected.

Grazer-induced transcriptomic and metabolomic response of the chain-forming diatom Skeletonema marinoi.

Diatoms and copepods are main actors in marine food webs. The prey-predator interactions between them affect bloom dynamics, shape marine ecosystems and impact the energy transfer to higher trophic levels. Recently it has been demonstrated that the presence of grazers may affect the diatom prey beyond the direct effect of grazing.

Energy performance and greenhouse gas emissions of kelp cultivation for biogas and fertilizer recovery in Sweden.

The cultivation of seaweed as a feedstock for third generation biofuels is gathering interest in Europe, however, many questions remain unanswered in practise, notably regarding scales of operation, energy returns on investment (EROI) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, all of which are crucial to determine commercial viability. This study performed an energy and GHG emissions analysis, using EROI and GHG savings potential respectively, as indicators of commercial viability for two systems: the Swedish Seafarm project's seaweed cultivation (0.5ha), biogas and fertilizer biorefinery, and an estimation of the same system scaled up and adjusted to a cultivation of 10ha.

Solid phase extraction and metabolic profiling of exudates from living copepods.

Copepods are ubiquitous in aquatic habitats. They exude bioactive compounds that mediate mate finding or induce defensive traits in prey organisms. However, little is known about the chemical nature of the copepod exometabolome that contributes to the chemical landscape in pelagic habitats.

Costs and benefits of chemical defence in the Red Alga Bonnemaisonia hamifera.

A number of studies have shown that the production of chemical defences is costly in terrestrial vascular plants. However, these studies do not necessarily reflect the costs of defence production in macroalgae, due to structural and functional differences between vascular plants and macroalgae. Using a specific culturing technique, we experimentally manipulated the defence production in the red alga Bonnemaisonia hamifera to examine if the defence is costly in terms of growth.

An exotic chemical weapon explains low herbivore damage in an invasive alga.

Invasion success of introduced species is often attributed to a lack of natural enemies as stated by the enemy release hypothesis (ERH). The ERH intuitively makes sense for specialized enemies, but it is less evident why invaders in their new area escape attacks by generalist enemies. A recent hypothesis explains low herbivore damage on invasive plants with plant defense chemicals that are evolutionarily novel to native herbivores.

Native generalist herbivores promote invasion of a chemically defended seaweed via refuge-mediated apparent competition.

Refuge-mediated apparent competition was recently suggested as a mechanism that enables plant invasions. The refuge characteristics of introduced plants are predicted to enhance impacts of generalist herbivores on native competitors and thereby result in an increased abundance of the invader. However, this prediction has so far not been experimentally verified.

Chemical images of marine bio-active compounds by surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy and transposed orthogonal partial least squares (T-OPLS).

Surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy combined with transposed Orthogonal Partial Least Squares (T-OPLS) was shown to produce chemical images of the natural antibacterial surface-active compound 1,1,3,3-tetrabromo-2-heptanone (TBH) on Bonnemaisonia hamifera. The use of gold colloids functionalised with the internal standard 4-mercapto-benzonitrile (MBN) made it possible to create images of the relative concentration of TBH over the surfaces. A gradient of TBH could be mapped over and in the close vicinity of the B.

Metabolomic assessment of induced and activated chemical defence in the invasive red alga Gracilaria vermiculophylla.

In comparison with terrestrial plants the mechanistic knowledge of chemical defences is poor for marine macroalgae. This restricts our understanding in the chemically mediated interactions that take place between algae and other organisms. Technical advances such as metabolomics, however, enable new approaches towards the characterisation of the chemically mediated interactions of organisms with their environment.

Ecological role of a seaweed secondary metabolite for a colonizing bacterial community.

Bacteria associated with seaweeds can both harm and benefit their hosts. Many seaweed species are known to produce compounds that inhibit growth of bacterial isolates, but the ecological role of seaweed metabolites for the associated bacterial community structure is not well understood. In this study the response of a colonizing bacterial community to the secondary metabolite (1,1,3,3-tetrabromo-2-heptanone) from the red alga Bonnemaisonia hamifera was investigated by using field panels coated with the metabolite at a range of concentrations covering those measured at the algal surface.

The red alga Bonnemaisonia asparagoides regulates epiphytic bacterial abundance and community composition by chemical defence.

Ecological research on algal-derived metabolites with antimicrobial activity has recently received increased attention and is no longer only aimed at identifying novel natural compounds with potential use in applied perspectives. Despite this progress, few studies have so far demonstrated ecologically relevant antimicrobial roles of algal metabolites, and even fewer have utilized molecular tools to investigate the effects of these metabolites on the natural community composition of bacteria. In this study, we investigated whether the red alga Bonnemaisonia asparagoides is chemically defended against bacterial colonization of its surface by extracting surface-associated secondary metabolites and testing their antibacterial effects.