Kelp seedbanks: safeguarding genetic diversity and supporting aquaculture and restoration

About the speaker: 

Cayne is a researcher and marine scientist who mostly focuses on the ecology and restoration of kelp forests and temperate reef systems, along with seaweed aquaculture and conservation. He combines field & lab experiments and scientific diving to examine how kelp forests and temperate cosystems function and persist, especially in the face of increasing anthropogenic stressors. Cayne’s work seeks to answer fundamental ecological questions while ensuring practical applications for conservation, management, and industry.

Organisation:

University of Tasmania, and Blue Conservation Services

Presentation:

Here I describe our seedbanking of kelps across southern Australia, and demonstrate how these collections facilitate a diverse suite of ongoing work, including cultivation optimisation, strain selection, restoration trials, and aquaculture development. These living repositories also serve as the foundation for critically important genetic conservation and research, and have even supported emergency collections of threatened kelp populations prior to the forecast extreme marine heatwave of 2023/24.