Environmental DNA has proven immensely valuable for accurately, rapidly, and inexpensively detecting new species and answering important coastal management questions. In a new study, a team led by Bigelow Laboratory researchers is turning to the power of eDNA to look at the species that drives Maine’s seaweed farming industry: sugar kelp.
In the study, the team showcases the potential of both kelp-specific and ecosystem-wide eDNA tools for examining the species that live in the seafloor below a commercial kelp farm and quantifying the deposition of carbon-rich kelp biomass into those sediments.
The work highlights the power of eDNA to detect small, subtle differences in an ecosystem and pinpoint carbon derived from kelp — information that’s invaluable for kelp farmers and necessary for assessing the potential of commercial kelp for carbon dioxide removal.
The work was led by Samuel Tan, a PhD student in the cutting-edge, interdisciplinary Maine-eDNA program. It features fellow Maine-eDNA student Shane Farrell, alongside SRSs Dave Emerson and Nichole Price, as well as collaborators from the University of Maine Darling Marine Center and University of British Columbia.
📸: The research team extracted a sediment core from below a commercial kelp farm aboard the Darling Marine Center’s research vessel Ira C in 2022 (Credit: Samuel Tan).
