Miss Grace Edwards1, Dr Karen Filbee-Dexter1,2, Professor Catriona Hurd3, Professor Thomas Wernberg1,2
1UWA Oceans Institute, M470 Indian Ocean Marine Research Centre, 64 Fairway , Crawley, Australia, 2Institute of Marine Research, His, Norway, 3Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
Seaweeds have the capacity to take up large quantities of nitrogen and phosphorus from coastal ecosystems and therefore seaweed farms may have potential to offset nutrient pollution entering coastal zones (i.e. through intensive aquaculture or land-based agriculture). Improved knowledge of seaweed nutrient physiology is crucial to determine the potential of this nutrient capture. Although seaweed aquaculture is a relatively new sector in Western Australia (WA) and Australia as a whole, its interest is increasing. Our research measures the physiological performance of ecologically relevant seaweed species to establish baselines for estimating their use in bioremediation and seaweed mariculture in WA. We quantified nutrient uptake via in situ field- and in vitro lab-based experiments to determine the optimal physiological performance of candidate seaweed species of Australia from both temperate and tropical regions under different nutrient regimes. These results may inform future development of effective mariculture systems for bioremediation in WA and Australia. The research will improve our understanding of the potential of seaweed aquaculture as a nature-based solution to combat nutrient pollution in coastal areas.
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