Working with Birch Aquarium to Educate on Algae!

Emily Kelly showing algae samples to the group.

PhD students Emily Kelly and Maggie Johnson spent the afternoon at the Birch Aquarium with aquarists, aquarium teachers, and Sea Camp teachers for a workshop about local algae species.  As part of Birch’s on-going work to show visitors the wonderful underwater world of marine life, aquarists and teachers are also interested in fostering a diverse collection of seaweeds for the display tanks.

PhD student Maggie Johnson giving a presentation about algae

Maggie and Emily talked about the taxonomy, biology, and physiology of some local and tropical seaweed species that can be found at Birch, and then the group spent time looking at samples under the microscope and making cross-sections to examine cellular structure of seaweeds.

Birch Aquarium has been a great resource for the Smith Lab in obtaining algal samples for experiments and teaching. All of us look forward to continue working with Birch Aquarium on their “seaweed gardening.”

*Photo Credit: Fernando Nosratpour (Birch Aquarium Curator)