Novel Compound Discovery in Newly Domesticated Alaskan Kelp

While the abiotic limits of bull kelp growth at the microscopic stage are somewhat understood, there is still a lot we don’t know about optimizing growth in hatcheries, especially in terms of light and temperature, and how different hatchery conditions may affect the final growth and yield of seaweed farms at harvest. This proposal aims to make progress in aquaculture by determining how to optimize microstage kelp growth while also taking into consideration hatchery costs such as the electricity needed for lighting and controlling water temperature. This project will investigate how varying light and temperature levels affect optimal bull kelp seed growth and hatchery process costs. Seed string grown under these different hatchery conditions will then be outplanted on two farms, one in Juneau and one in Kodiak, to determine how exposure to different abiotic conditions in the hatchery stage affect the adult stage of kelp and harvest outputs. Most studies of the effects of abiotic stress on bull kelp primarily focus on either the microscopic or the macroscopic stages of kelp. This study would provide a novel understanding of bull kelp growth and development over its entire life cycle by following individuals from hatchery to harvest.

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