Beyond biofuel News
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As we approach the end of 2023, the Beyond Biofuel team were excited to disseminate some of their research findings to date. Abby gave an engaging presentation which discussed the interactive effects of predicted ocean warming and acidification on the productivity of Laminaria digitata. This presentation detailed findings from a mesocosm experiment that Abby led earlier this year. Congratulations on delivering a compelling presentation, Abby!
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Back row (L-R): Dr. Danielle Gallagher (post-doc), MacDara Allison (PhD candidate), Dr. Abby Gilson (post-doc), Vivienne Gao (research assistant). Front row (L-R): Dr. Nessa O'Connor (principal investigator), Grace Aspell (research assistant), Simon Benson (PhD candidate).
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The team were busy collecting kelp from Toormore, West Cork, to then prepare as an inoculum at the Environmental Research Institute in collaboration with University College Cork. The inoculum will be used to produce biomethane from Alaria esculenta under the guidance of Dr. Jerry Murphy and Dr. Xue Ning at UCC. The team also had the opportunity to show off their new Beyond Biofuel merch!
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The team has successfully harvested their cultivated kelp from two farms, Toormore and Gearhies, which have been growing since January 2023. This experiment aimed to investigate efficient methods of cultivating kelp specifically grown to produce high value products and biofuels. This involved the hand harvesting, sorting, weighing, and measuring of monocultures, bicultures and polycultures of kelp. The team are in the middle of processing the harvest samples and are looking forward to some exciting results as part of the SFI project. The team would like to thank our technical staff at TCD and the staff at Bantry Marine Research Station for their assistance.
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We would like to welcome our newest member to the team, Vivienne Gao! Vivienne is a research assistant on the Beyond Biofuel project who is interested in methods of sustainable kelp aquaculture and the potential of kelp cultivation to mitigate effects of ocean acidification and warming on calcifying organisms. Find out more about Vivienne here!
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The team’s postdoc, Dr. Abby Gilson, and research assistant, Grace Aspell, have been preparing the mesocosm facility over the last number of months ahead of these experiments. The 8-week experiments will test whether the presence of kelp mitigates the effects of ocean warming and acidification on mussel growth and production. The lab group are also investigating how increased ocean warming and acidification affect the growth and productivity of the kelp Laminaria digitata. Furthermore, the study will examine whether L. digitata alters the water chemistry under increased warming and CO2 conditions. The team look forward to obtaining their research outputs from the mesocosm facility in Park Lane.
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The team would like to congratulate Frank Spellman on the submission of his M.Sc. thesis titled “Assessing novel cultivation methods, baseline fish assemblages and survey methodologies of cultivated and wild kelp in the Southwest of Ireland”. We thank Frank for all the effort and time he spent on the project, and we wish him all the best for the future.
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Simon Benson's talk investigated genetic diversity of Irish kelp and how to use their naturally occurring alginates for more specialised industrial, research, and biomedical applications. The team would like to congratulate Simon on an excellent presentation. Look at the amazing gif he drew to help deliver his talk!
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Post-doc, Dr. Abby Gilson, and research assistant, Grace Aspell, had an early start this morning collecting juvenile kelp from Rush, Co. Dublin. The juvenile kelp will be placed into our mesocosm facility to trial their use for future experiments. The team hope to use them to investigate whether the presence of kelp mitigates the effects of ocean warming and acidification on mussel growth and production.
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Post-doc, Dr. Abby Gilson, and research assistant, Grace Aspell, oversaw the deployment of the lines in Gearhies and Toormore, Co. Cork. The kelp deployed include monocultures, bicultures, and polycultures of Laminaria digitata, Saccharina latissima, and Alaria esculenta. The team would like to thank the staff at BMRS for their assistance.
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The lab achieved 97% which puts them in the Green Certification level. This is the highest certification level in My Green Lab’s programme, and the lab group are extremely proud of their efforts. The O’Connor lab were also given feedback to improve their sustainability initiatives and to ensure they remain at Green Certification level when they are reassessed in two years. A special thanks to the team’s former research assistant, Tallulah Davey, for coordinating the certification process. The O’Connor lab look forward to continuing initiatives to enhance lab sustainability and are excited to see other Zoology labs to get involved.
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Matthias and Tallulah's contributions have been crucial to the project, and we wish them the best for the future. Moving forward, Dr. Abby Gilson has accepted the role as post-doctoral researcher on our team, while Grace Aspell will start as our research assistant. The pair are excited to work on the project and look forward to plenty of fieldwork. Find out more about Abby and Grace here!
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This work was conducted over two days in collaboration with Bantry Marine Research Station (BMRS) and facilitated by support by LCF Marine. As part of the work a total of eight longlines of 220m each were deployed which consisted of various experimental treatments. The lines will now be checked monthly to monitor growth and other response variables until their harvest in April/May.
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The E3 construction works at the Zoology building, and particularly the renovations of the basement, meant that a new home was needed for Zoology’s recently installed experimental platform of marine mesocosms (QIMS). Moving the mesocosms required a huge effort from contractors, Zoology technical staff and Dr Nessa O’Connor’s research group, and they are now at their new home in Park Lane, next to the Samuel Beckett Theatre.
QIMS (Quantifying the Impacts of Multiple Stressors) is an experimental platform used to test for effects of changing environmental conditions, such as those expected with climate change, on marine organisms. The system is comprised of 96 independent seawater tanks, which each hold 32 L seawater, that can be manipulated to investigate how the effects of multiple stressors, such as ocean warming and acidification, affect the structure and functioning of benthic marine species and model assemblages. The sophisticated control system allows users to control temperature and carbonate concentration in individual tanks and in combination with other factors such as nutrient levels can mimic a multitude of real-life scenarios in the tanks. At the moment, tests are being run to ensure that all tanks perform to the highest standards and an initial experiment with kelps (large brown seaweed) is planned for the new year.
If you are interested to find out more about the facility or would like to visit, please get in contact with our group.
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We would like to welcome our newest member to the team, Simon Benson! Simon is a PhD candidate whose research focuses on kelp genetic resources in the context of biodiversity as well as for more commerial purposes, such as potential biomedical applications. Find out more about Simon here!
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This course covered the training and proficiency necessary for subtidal research and was led by Kathryn Schoenrock (Zoology, NUI Galway). With this, our team plans to harness SCUBA as a research tool to develop seaweed cultivation techniques, monitor sites of natural and cultivated seaweeds, and to explore the role that seaweeds play in climate change mitigation in the NE Atlantic.
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The team plans to use this drone for surveying natural kelp beds and commercial seaweed farms along the west coast of Ireland to monitor the potential effects of seaweed cultivation on benthic ecosystems. The drone is able to record HD videos, can pick up items and even has a cutting tool developed for taking kelp samples. The initial test in the TCD pool went well and we are now planning further open water tests, before using the drone as part of the project monitoring.