This document provides a detailed report on the methodology, assumptions and results of the lifecycle assessments of 20 plant and animal foods commonly consumed in the United States. Due to lack of data, the analysis focused on typical, conventional food production systems rather than organic production systems or those based on best management agricultural practices that might result in lower emissions. While our LCAs focus exclusively on GHG emissions, climate impact is just one of many critical environmental and health factors to consider in evaluating protein choices.The Meat Eater’s Guide to Climate Change and Health provides a broad overview of the health and environmental concerns linked to animal production.
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Seaweed cultivation is a growth market worldwide. Seaweed has multiple uses and is a promising resource to contribute to the societal challenges of food security and climate change in the future. However, the mechanisation of seaweed cultivation is essential for further growth, especially in Europe or comparable regions with high labor costs. This development is comparable to the mechanisation of land based agriculture which started with the Industrial Revolution. The seaweed industry will make a similar transition from small scale artisanal cultivation to large scale fully mechansised farming, and we expect this to happen withing the timespan of a few decades. This is going to take place at sea, in the hostile marine environment, and it has to take place in a sustainable way. IHC adressses this formidable challenge from its strenghts and maritime engineering background. Seaweed cultivation mechanisation knowledge is being developed and and combined with our profound understanding of marine engineering. This is necessary in order to realise equipment which fullJls its harvesting functionalities and survive the unforgiving sea environment. IHC MTI, the R&D centre of Royal IHC, has developed a Jrst prototype harvesting machine and tested it to try out and understand harvesting principles and also to demonstrate the potential of mechanised harvesting. The initial prototype realises a cost reduction of 50% and harvesting time reduction of 90%, even at this early stage without impeding sustainability aspects. This presentation exhibits the results of the initial trials with the harvesting prototype. In addition we adress the next steps and technological challenges to achieve mechanised seaweed farming.
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Seaweeds are one of the most important living resources of the ocean and are one of the largest producers of biomass in the marine environment. They produce a wide variety of chemically active metabolites in their surroundings, potentially as an aid to protect themselves against the other settling organisms. These biogenic molecules impart the uniqueness of chemical diversity in seaweeds compared to other plants. Which owe them multitude of medicinal properties, because of that they are often been used as a food for people who are sick and has been credited with health-giving properties and have gained importance as medicinal sources. Present review highlights a state of art on the medicinal value of seaweeds and their exploitation scenario on a global scale.
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Along the German North Sea coast, the observed high spatial competition of stakeholders has encouraged the idea of integrating open ocean aquaculture in conjunction with offshore wind farms beyond the 12 miles zone. The article provides an overview on the current state of transdisciplinary research on a potential implementation of such a multifunctional use concept on a showcase basis, covering biological, technical, economic and social/policy aspects as well as private–public partnerships and the relevant institutional bodies. We show that the cultivation of seaweeds and blue mussels is biologically and technically feasible in a high-energy environment using modiWed cultivation strategies. The point of departure of our multi-use concept was that the solid groundings of wind turbines could serve as attachment points for the aquaculture installations and become the key to the successful commercial cultivation of any offshore aquatic organism. However, spaces in between the turbines are also attractive for farming projects, since public access is restricted and thus the cultivation site protected from outside inXuences. An economic analysis of diVerent operation scenarios indicates that the market price and the annual settlement success of juvenile mussels are the main factors that determine the breakeven point. Social and policy science research reveals that the integration of relevant actors into the development of a multi-use concept for a wind farm-mariculture interaction is a complex and controversial issue. Combining knowledge and experience of wind farm planners as well as mussel Wshermen and mariculturists within the framework of national and EU policies is probably the most important component for designing and developing an eVective offshore co-management regime to limit the consumption of ocean space.
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The Gulf of Mexico large marine ecosystem (LME) is ecologically and economically important, yet faces numerous anthropogenic stressors. Common metrics driving ecosystem assessment and management, particularly at the LME scale, include fisheries harvest and primary productivity. However, neither is adequate in revealing a complete picture of ecosystem health. Secondary production is an important functional component of marine ecosystems. Yet, inherent difficulties in measuring higher productivity limit its use as an ecosystem indicator. The goals of this study were to: 1) use existing ecosystem models to estimate secondary production within the Gulf of Mexico, 2) identify productivity hotspots based on spatial patterns of secondary productivity across the Gulf LME, 3) compare trophic structure, function, efficiency, and productivity among ecosystem types within the Gulf, and 4) determine effectiveness of primary productivity as an indicator of secondary productivity. A meta-analysis of 18 Ecopath models describing Gulf of Mexico subsystems was conducted. Representative systems included temperate estuaries, tropical lagoons, continental shelves, and coral reefs. Annual secondary production ranged from 128 tonnes (t) wet weight (ww) km−2 in Tampamachoco Lagoon to 15 466 t ww km−2 in the Florida Keys. Spatial patterns of secondary productivity across the Gulf of Mexico LME demonstrate higher values in coastal regions, especially coral reefs. Secondary production is largely supported by benthic food webs across all ecosystems. Benthic food webs are also more efficient with regards to transfer of production than pelagic food webs. No significant relationships between primary and secondary production were observed via linear regression for any ecosystem type, indicating that primary production is not a strong indicator of secondary production. Comparative analyses of ecosystems across the Gulf of Mexico, such as the one presented here, identify critical areas at the LME scale, and support ecosystem-based management initiatives.
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This project provided fundamental information on the ability of native marine macroalgae, commonly known as seaweed, to tolerate, take up, and metabolize the explosive compound 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) dissolved in seawater.
Research Objectives:
1) Determine the intrinsic capacity of tissue cultures derived from three model marine macroalgae to remove TNT dissolved in seawater;
2) Measure the kinetics of TNT metabolite formation and elucidate the pathways for TNT biotransformation within these organisms;
3) Assess the viability of marine seaweeds following TNT exposure and uptake. -
The physical stresses associated with emersion have long been considered major factors determining the vertical zonation of intertidal seaweeds. We examined Porphyra umbilicalis (Linnaeus) Kützing thalli from the vertical extremes in elevation of an intertidal population ( i.e. upper and lower intertidal zones) to determine whether Porphyra thalli acclimate to different vertical elevations on the shore with different patterns of nitrate uptake and nitrate reductase (NR) and glutamine synthetase (GS) activities in response to different degrees of emersion stress. We found that the nitrate uptake and NR recovery in the emersed tissues took longer in lower intertidal sub-population than in upper intertidal sub-population; and GS activity was also significantly affected by emersion and, interestingly, such an activity was enhanced by emersion of thalli from both upper and lower intertidal zones. These results suggested that intra-population variability in post-emersion recovery of physiological functions such as nutrient uptake and NR activity enables local adaptation and contributes to the wide vertical distribution of P. umbilicalis. The high GS activity during periodic emersion stress may be a protective mechanism enabling P. umbilicalis to assimilate nitrogen quickly when it again becomes available, and may also be an evidence of photorespiration during emersion.
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In order to survive in a highly competitive environment, freshwater or marine algae have to develop defense strategies that result in a tremendous diversity of compounds from different metabolic pathways. Recent trends in drug research from natural sources have shown that algae are promising organisms to furnish novel biochemically active compounds. The current review describes the main substances biosynthesized by algae with potential economic impact in food science, pharmaceutical industry and public health. Emphasis is g
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Metabolomics is a rapidly emerging discipline within functional genomics which is increasingly being applied to understand biochemical phenotypes across a range of biological systems. Metabolomics measures all (or a subset) metabolites in a cell at a specific time point, reflecting a snapshot of all the regulatory events responding to the external environmental conditions. Although metabolomics and systems biology approaches have been applied to the study of terrestrial plants, few marine macrophytes have been examined using these novel technologies. Marine macrophytes (including seaweeds and seagrasses) are marine ecosystem engineers delivering a range of ecologically and economically valuable biological services; however they are under threat from a wide range of anthropogenic stressors, climate variation, invasive species and pathogens. Investigating metabolomic regulation in these organisms is crucial to understand their acclimation, adaptation and defence responses to environmental challenges. This review describes the current analytical tools available to study metabolomics in marine macrophytes, along with their limitations for both targeted and non-targeted workflows. To illustrate recent advances in systems biology studies in marine macrophytes, we describe how metabolites are used in chemical defence to deter a broad range of invasive species and pathogens, as well as metabolomic reprogramming leading to acclimation or adaptive strategies to environmental and anthropogenic stresses. Where possible, the mechanistic processes associated with primary and secondary plant metabolism governing cellular homeostasis under extreme environments are discussed. Further, we provide a comprehensive overview of an in silico plant metabolome database that can be utilized to advance our knowledge from a system biology approach to marine macrophytes. Finally, functional integration of metabolomics with the allied “omics” disciplines of transcriptomics and proteomics, as well as the emerging discipline of “fluxomics” are discussed in the context of developing biological system networks, the identification of unknown gene/protein functions and the analysis of metabolic pathways in marine plants exposed to stress.
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In postulates 1 on the Earth's origin, gaseous chemical elements combined with each other during cooling; compounds with the highest boiling points condensed first, followed by those containing lighter elements. Living material, formed gradually by chemical reactions of the lighter elements and traces of the heavy ones, was peculiar in its tendency to revert to nonliving material unless chemical work maintained its living state. Abundant non-living compounds of C, H, and 0 also formed in various proportions. The relatively large energy changes involved in the oxidoreduction of these elements equipped them to be agents for the chemical work. Because the Earth was initially anaerobic, with insufficient oxygen to combine completely with the available carbon and hydrogen, much of the carbon must have been in an intermediate state of oxidation. In the absence of 02, energy was not available through the oxidation of carbon to CO2 and H20, but it could be derived by converting C atoms at an intermediate state of oxidation to CO2 and CH4. These molecules are in a low energy state anaerobically, incapable of further redox reactions except that CO2 can be reduced with H2 to CH4. Thus methane was, presumably, an important waste product of early metabolism, and methanogenesis was a primitive phenomenon, accomplished by possibly many diverse forms.
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Marine Agronomy Group, CAFNRM, UH-Hilo
200 W. Kawili st., HI 96720, USA
Contact: Marine.Agronomy.Group@gmail.com
Funding for this web portal is provided by the World Wildlife Fund and the University of Hawaii-Hilo.