Towards a greener future – Sustainable off-shore aquaculture of Swedish Sea Lettuce
This is a suggestion for a Degree Project for Bachelor's and Master's levels at the Department of Marine Sciences. Degree projects at the Department of Marine Sciences are done independently and must be written and assessed individually
Subject: Marine Biology
Level: Bachelor & Master
Project start: Flexible
Supervisor: Sophie Steinhagen
Project description
Green macroalgae of the genus Ulva are ubiquitous inhabitants of marine and brackish coastal waters. Due to their different high-value compounds (proteins, fatty acids, carbohydrates) the emerging seaweed aquaculture could profit of its large-scale cultivation potential. Currently, most of the Ulva biomass that is needed for industrial applications is cultivated on-shore in tank or pond systems.
Together with you, we want to find a way to optimize the off-shore cultivability of Ulva fenestrata, the northern hemisphere Sea Lettuce. Your project will include working in our off-shore seafarm in the Kosterfjord where you will test different cultivation methods, and you will run complementary experiments on-shore to test best practices for seedling hatcheries.
This project includes lab-work, as well as field collection of green algae.
Project background
Aquaculture is defined as the husbandry and farming of aquatic animals and plants. According to present-day-research, oceans remain the only environment capable for extensive agricultural expansion, which is the reason for the constant growth of the aquaculture sector.
Especially extractive, photo-autotroph primary producers, such as seaweeds, bare the greatest potential to tackle the challenge of providing new and sustainable future resources and the large number of various high value compounds imparts seaweeds a wide range of applications.
Contact
Email: sophie.steinhagen@gu.se