Assessing the role of cultured seaweeds in uptaking nutrients

Supervisory Team:

Primary supervisor: Elisabeth Strain

Co-supervisor: Catriona Hurd, Wouter Visch

Brief project description:

Seaweeds are primarily cultivated for food production. There is however, growing recognition that cultivated seaweeds might also provide other important environmental co-benefits including remediation of pollution through uptake of nutrients or heavy metals, carbon capture, coastal protection and habitat for colonising organisms. To date, research has demonstrated that the environmental co-benefits of cultivated seaweeds differ between species and locations. The project will synthesize the existing literature and test

Specifically, this thesis aims to:

1. Uptake a literature review/formal meta-analysis testing the efficacy of different cultured seaweeds in uptaking nutrients.
2. Assess whether different taxonomic or functional groups of cultured seaweeds have different potential benefits in uptaking nutrients.

The results of this thesis will provide new insights into the potential environmental benefits and trade-offs of culturing different species of seaweed in Tasmania and globally.

Skills students will develop during this research project:

The student will learn key analytical skills and conduct data analyses through R gui.