Can Seaweed Save the Planet?

Dr. Jennifer Smith was featured in the Wavelengths series’ latest video! A species of seaweed is behind a major movement to curb methane emissions from an unlikely source—cow burps. Marine ecologist Jennifer Smith leads the Smith Lab at Scripps Oceanography where she cultivates Asparagopsis taxiformis, a species of red algae that produces a compound that could greatly reduce the production … Read More

Postdoc Job Announcement

JOB ANNOUNCEMENT ALERT! POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH POSITION AT SCRIPPS INSTITUTION OF OCEANOGRAPHY, UCSD – BIOLOGY SECTION Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO, http://scripps.ucsd.edu) at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) invites applications for a full-time Postdoctoral Researcher to work with an interdisciplinary research team focused on the topic of Kelp Forest Ecology, Ecophysiology, Carbon Cycling and Sequestration Potential. The incumbent will … Read More

Cow burps & the scientists waging war against them, featured in WIRED

Dr. Jen Smith was recently interviewed and featured in a WIRED article where she discussed how her work learning to cultivate Asparagopsis taxiformis in the lab will help Californian dairy farmers to cut emissions by 2030. The article mentions her work with Elm Innovations and introduces a multitude of scientific methods currently being explored by scientists worldwide to reduce methane emissions by the livestock … Read More

UCSD Research highlight: “Usurp the Burp”

This week Dr. Jen Smith’s research was featured by the UC San Diego News Center, highlighting her recent collaboration with agricultural scientists at UC Davis. Dr. Smith is researching methods of cultivation of Asparagopsis taxiformis, a red seaweed that has been discovered to reduce methane emissions from cow burps in studies conducted at UC Davis. She’s also working with scientists at … Read More

Citizen-supported science in the Gulf of Maine

Dr. Walter Adey has dedicated his career to studying the importance of seaweeds in the marine ecosystems of the Northwest Atlantic. Walter first surveyed the benthic communities of the Gulf of Maine fifty years ago. In the wake of the collapse of the famed New England cod fishery and half a century of climate change, the Gulf of Maine is … Read More

Published Results: Effects of ocean acidification on San Diego seaweeds

A new paper, written by Susan Kram and co-authors, was recently accepted for publication in the ICES Journal of Marine Science themed article set on Ocean Acidification. The paper, “Variable responses of temperate calcified and fleshy macroalgae to elevated pCO2 and warming,” describes the responses of six different locally abundant San Diego seaweeds to future ocean acidification and warming conditions. … Read More

Published Results – new paper focuses on the small things on a coral reef

Jill’s new paper, written with Jen and Levi, came out recently in the Marine Ecology Progress Series. Their paper, Quantifying scales of spatial variability in algal turf assemblages on coral reefs, describes how turf algae on a coral reef are variable over very small scales. Turf algae are a group of small (~ 1 cm tall) algae that grow like a fuzzy … Read More

New paper focuses on the small things on a coral reef

By Jill Harris Jill’s new paper, written with Jen and Levi, was recently accepted for publication in the Marine Ecology Progress Series. Their paper, Quantifying scales of spatial variability in algal turf assemblages on coral reefs, describes how turf algae on a coral reef are variable over very small scales.  Stay tuned for the official publication of the paper, but in the … Read More

The Faces and Functions of Algae on the Reef

By Samantha Clements Algae, often referred to as “seaweed,” are underwater “plants” that, unlike land plants, lack a vascular system. Algae live underwater and obtain water, nutrients, and sunlight directly from the environment. Because algae don’t need a vascular system, they come in many shapes and sizes and may look very different from land plants. Some algae, such as Ventricaria … Read More