News
Acid, alien and hot! Beach visitors to put seaweeds under the spotlight
Beach visitors are being asked to turn scientist this summer to help understand a bit more about the seaside’s unsung hero – seaweed!
The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) has teamed up with the Natural History Museum on a project to get people out on our shores to help study seaweeds. With their 3D structure and multi-coloured forms, seaweeds create shelter and food for an immense diversity of other marine organisms and also support commercial fisheries. But most people don’t give them a second look, and even consider them a slippery nuisance we could do without!
The Big Seaweed Search, a new citizen science project, will help to map out the distribution of seaweeds around Britain. Seaweed distribution and abundance around our coasts is changing. To investigate why this might be and what’s out there, the Big Seaweed Search will try and establish just what is affecting seaweeds on British coasts.
Miranda Krestovnikoff, TV presenter and diver says: “This is a great way to find out more about our beautiful UK seaweeds, and to help researchers track how they are faring in changing environmental conditions. And anyone can join in. At last, seaweeds will get the attention they deserve!”
The seashores and shallow seas around Britain support over 650 species of seaweed, making them globally significant and an important component of British biodiversity. The study will focus on 14 species, to increase our knowledge of how sea temperature increase, sea level rise, impacts of non-native species and increasing acidity are affecting the distribution of different species of seaweed.
“It’s easy to take them for granted, but seaweeds are fascinating, provide shelter and food for an immense variety of marine wildlife, and are of enormous use to humanity”, says Professor Juliet Brodie, of the Natural History Museum. “People are unaware that our daily lives are affected by seaweeds in many ways, from foods and medicines to buffering the effects of rough seas on our vulnerable coastlines”.
In the Big Seaweed Search, eight species of conspicuous wracks (part of the common names of several species of seaweed) have been selected for the public to record. Many of these will probably be familiar, such as bladder wrack, Fucus vesiculosus, with its bladders resembling bubble-wrap that pop underfoot, and knotted wrack, Ascophyllum nodosum, which produces a single egg-like bladder once a year and can live for an estimated 50-60 years.
The study also hopes to unearth more about non-natives and their impact on British coasts. “One of the most well-known ‘aliens’ listed in the study is wireweed, Sargassum muticum, a brown seaweed that was first recorded on the south coast of England in 1973 and has spread very rapidly since then. Another conspicuous non-native seaweed and a favoured food in Japan, Wakame, Undaria pinnatifida, was first recorded in Britain in 1994 on pontoons but is now starting to colonise rocky shores. These ‘aliens’ are here to stay so we need to learn to live with them,” says Juliet.
Justine Millard, MCS Head of Education and Outreach, says the study will establish whether any of these seaweeds are changing in their range, or becoming more or less widespread. “Anyone can be a citizen scientist. We’ll provide simple instructions and an identification guide so that everyone can make a valuable contribution to our knowledge of this important and underappreciated group.”
To take part, register at www.nhm.ac.uk/seaweeds.
Photo: Frogfish Photography
After a two-year tour of UK art galleries, community spaces and aquariums, the Shark Trust’s acclaimed Oceanic31 exhibition takes its final bow at the Royal Geographical Society later this month. And the unique collection of artwork, depicting 31 species of oceanic sharks and rays, donated by 31 artists, is now open for bids from art lovers and shark enthusiasts. The online auction, launched today, will close on the 7th December at 8pm (BST). The money raised will support the Shark Trust Oceanics Programme.
People can now bid on 27 of the artworks by visiting this website:
https://superstars-auctions.com/sharktrustauction
It is a chance to own a beautiful piece of original art and to support the Shark Trust. The timing of the auction also means that these would make a very special Christmas gift for any shark-lover.
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- Bigeye Thresher Shark by Janina Rossiter
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- Carcharodon carcharias by Jimmy Higgs
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- Croc VR 2030 by Tom Mead
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- Oceanic Whitetip by ATM
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- Silky Street by ScapaJoe
The diversity of pieces mirrors that of the sharks and rays they represent. You can bid on paintings, digital creations, sculptures, mixed media and more. You can pick your favourite artist or species of shark. Or you can select the perfect artwork to make a statement in your home or office. Whichever you choose, you will be supporting the work to protect these amazing animals.
One of the pieces of art has been selected to be auctioned live by Steve Backshall at the For the Love of Sharks event at the Royal Geographical Society in London on the 29th November. In addition to this, two further pieces will be raffled at this event, giving people a chance to win an incredible piece of shark art. For the Love of Sharks is the Shark Trust’s flagship evening. A night to celebrate sharks. Steve Backshall is the headline speaker at this event that will see other prominent shark advocates join him on stage.
Tickets for the event can be snapped up here:
https://thesharktrust.org.uk/Event/flos24
Those that would like to see the Oceanic 31 exhibition have one final chance. It is being displayed at the Pavilion at the Royal Geographic Society from 26th November until the 7th December. Entry is free.
Find out more here:
https://www.rgs.org/events/upcoming-events/oceanic-31
Paul Cox, Shark Trust CEO, Said “This exhibition has given us the opportunity to reach out to a new audience. And inspire more people with the wonderful sharks and rays on which our Big Shark Pledge campaign is based. We are immensely grateful to the 31 artists who have worked so hard to create these works.”
Bid for your favourite Oceanic 31 artwork here:
https://superstars-auctions.com/sharktrustauction
Banner Image: Smooth Hammerhead by Alicia Hayden
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