Thyroid hormone levels sufficient for brain development and normal metabolism require a minimal supply of iodine, mainly dietary. Living near the sea may confer advantages for iodine intake. Iodine (I(2)) gas released from seaweeds may, through respiration, supply a significant fraction of daily iodine requirements. Gaseous iodine released over seaweed beds was measured by a new gas chromatogra...

In order for research into the consequences of biodiversity changes to be more applicable to real-world ecosystems, experiments must be conducted in the field, where a variety of factors other than diversity can affect the rates of key biogeochemical and physiological processes. Here, we experimentally evaluate the effects of two factors known to affect the diversity and composition of intertid...

Seaweed-herbivore interactions are often mediated by environmental conditions, yet the roles of emerging anthropogenic stressors on these interactions are poorly understood. For example, chemical contaminants have unknown consequences on seaweed inducible resistance and herbivore response to these defenses despite known deleterious effects of contaminants on animal inducible defenses. Here, we ...

Seaweed aquaculture, the fastest-growing component of global food production, offers a slate of opportunities to mitigate, and adapt to climate change. Seaweed farms release carbon that maybe buried in sediments or exported to the deep sea, therefore acting as a CO2 sink. The crop can also be used, in total or in part, for biofuel production, with a potential CO2 mitigation capacity, in terms o...

BACKGROUND Seaweed is a popular traditional food in Japan and is a rich source of bioactive metabolites. The neuroprotective properties of seaweed have attracted attention; to date, however, there has been no epidemiological evidence regarding the relationship between seaweed consumption and depression. The current cross-sectional study investigated the association between seaweed consumption a...

Seaweed cultivation is a high growth industry that is primarily targeted at human food and hydrocolloid markets. However, seaweed biomass also offers a feedstock for the production of nutrient-rich biochar for soil amelioration. We provide the first data of biochar yield and characteristics from intensively cultivated seaweeds (Saccharina, Undaria and Sargassum--brown seaweeds, and Gracilaria, ...

As the global demand for seaweed-derived products drives the expansion of seaweed farming onto shallow coral ecosystems, the effects of farms on fish assemblages remain largely unexplored. Shallow coral reefs provide food and shelter for highly diverse fish assemblages but are increasingly modified by anthropogenic activities. We hypothesized that the introduction of seaweed farms into degraded...

An experiment (3 × 4 factorial arrangement) was conducted to investigate the interaction between different levels of lactose (60 v. 150 v. 250 g/kg) and seaweed extract (0 v. 1 v. 2 v. 4 g/kg) containing both laminarin and fucoidan derived from Laminaria spp. on growth performance and nutrient digestibility of weanling pigs. In all, 384 piglets (24 days of age, 7.5 kg (s.d. 1 kg) live weight) w...

Patterns in rocky intertidal seaweed biodiversity influence the resilience and functioning of these important primary producer communities. In turn, seaweed biodiversity patterns are the result of many ecological factors. We determined the influences of thermal and desiccation stress, herbivory, and nutrients on seaweed biodiversity on a northern California rocky shoreline. In a fully crossed d...