Just spent three amazing days teaching a seaweeds field course for the Raincoast Education Society in Tofino, B.C. See below for slides and teaching resources.
This hands-on course got local Tofino folk and visitors alike exploring, learning and appreciating the biodiversity of West Coast seaweeds. A world-renowned surfing hotspot, Tofino is also smack-dab in the middle of a bonafide seaweed biodiversity hotspot in the Pacific Northwest: over 600 species of kelps, crusts, sea lettuces, stringy filaments, pink corallines and more red blades in crimson, vermillion, magenta, wine-red, blood-red and burgundy than you can shake a walking-stick kelp at. Now that’s something to celebrate!
From Friday evening to Sunday afternoon, our eager gang of eight participants immersed themselves in the study of seaweeds as they discussed, observed, collected, identified, pressed, played with and ate their way to a deeper understanding of the marine flora in their backyard. Oh, and you better believe I talked up my recent visit to see some of the 250,000 seaweed collections at the Natural History Museum in London.
Are there more seaweed species in lower intertidal or the upper? Can Turkish towel (Chondracanthus spp.) really be used as a washcloth? Is Bull Kelp (Nereocystis leutkeana) tastier than the Sea Palm (Postelsia palmeformis)? These and other questions were answered this weekend (some more deliciously than others) and we had a blast doing it.
Want to know the answers for yourself? Take the next West Coast Seaweeds! Till then check out our pics and get yourself out there and explore! Two great guidebooks to our local seaweed flora are Pacific Seaweeds by Dr. Louis Druehl and Marine Life of the Pacific Northwest by Bernard Hanby and Andy Lamb. For a look into the many uses people have for seaweeds, including foraging and tasty recipes, see Pacific Feast by Jennifer Hahn or Seaweeds: Edible, Available and Sustainable by Ole Mouritsen. And, of course, the mega-awesome database of all algal knowledge, see algaebase.org. Enjoy!
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