Seaweed Science Resources
Dating back at least 555 million years, macroalgae are one of the oldest forms of multi-cellular life found in Earth’s fossil record. The first recorded human use of seaweed for food and medicine dates back to 3,000 BC in China, though there's evidence we’ve used this rich natural resource for far longer. Despite this long history, seaweed wasn’t studied in a scientifically systematic way until the late 18th century, when the first macroalgae species was described and given a Latin name by Pehr Osbeck in 1757. Although we tend to refer to macroalgae in general as seaweed and our edible species as sea vegetables, only the green and red macroalgae are related to plants; the brown algae (kelps) are classified in the Kingdom Chromista. Humans are more closely related to fungi than brown algae are to red or green algae! Over 12,000 seaweed species have been described to date. Phycology (the study of algae) became a recognized field in the late 19th century, and in 1952 seaweed science came of age with the First International Seaweed Symposium (ISS) held in Edinburgh Scotland. The ISS has held 23 meetings since then, and scores of seaweed books, several major Phycology journals, and thousands of scientific articles have been published.
Even with this wealth of information there is still much we don’t know about seaweed, and new findings continue to be published every year on these ancient life forms. Unfortunately, the vast majority of good science publications require purchase, a paid journal subscription, or access through an academic institution, limited to faculty, scientists, or students. Below, we provide links to some open access (free) seaweed science articles & resources that we’ve found helpful, arranged by topic. Most of them touch upon or relate to the eight species we sell, while others offer a global perspective and cover broader topics such as food or the seaweed industry around the world. Articles were chosen for their informational value, but they don’t all necessarily reflect our point of view or the unique set of sustainable harvesting and processing practices that we’ve developed over 30 years.
You’ll need Adobe Acrobat (still free for now) or another PDF program to read most of these articles. Some links open to the article itself and others lead to a journal site where you can click on the PDF icon to either read or download the article. Please let us know if you have difficulty with any of the links.
Biology and Ecology
- Field Guide to Marine Plants and Algae of Acadia National Park
- The Science of Seaweeds
- Kelp Forest Ecosystems
- Competitive interactions between an invasive algae and native algae in Nova Scotia
Seaweed Ecosystem Services
- How kelp naturally combats global climate change
- Can Seaweed Farming Play a Role in Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation?
Seaweed Harvesting
- Dulse ecology on harvested and non-harvested shores
- The Seaweed Resources of Eastern Canada
- FAO Guide to the Seaweed Industry
- Sustainable harvesting of wild seaweed resources
- The Future of the Public Trust: The Muddied Waters of Rockweed Management in Maine
- Seaweed Industry in France
Seaweed Processing and Flavor Science
Edible Seaweed and Nutrition
- Food or fad? Challenges and opportunities for including seaweeds in a Nordic diet
- Nutritional value of proteins from edible seaweed Palmaria palmata (dulse)
- Seaweeds for Food and Industrial Applications
- Algae as nutritional and functional food sources: revisiting our understanding
- A review of the nutrient composition of selected edible seaweeds
Edible Seaweed and Vitamin B12
- Characterization and bioavailability of vitamin B12 compounds from edible algae
- Vitamin B12 containing plant food sources for vegetarians
- Trends in analysis of vitamin B12
Therapeutic Uses of seaweed
- A role for dietary macroalgae in the amelioration of certain risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease
- Bioactive Potential and Possible Health Effects of Edible Brown Seaweeds
- Antioxidants from macroalgae: potential applications in human health and nutrition
Anticancer properties of seaweed
- The potential of seaweed as a source of drugs for use in cancer chemotherapy
- Anticancer Effects of Different Seaweeds on Human Colon and Breast Cancers
- Fucoidan and Cancer: A Multifunctional Molecule with Anti-Tumor Potential
- Fucoidan as a Marine Anticancer Agent in Preclinical Development
- Seaweed Prevents Breast Cancer?
Antimicrobial properties of seaweed
- Antimicrobial Action of Compounds from Marine Seaweed
- Sulfated polysaccharides effectively inhibit SARS-CoV-2 in vitro
- Sulfated Seaweed Polysaccharides as Antiviral Agents
Iodine
- Iodine: National Institutes of Health
- Analysis of iodine content in seaweed by GC-ECD and estimation of iodine intake
- Variability of iodine content in common commercially available edible seaweeds.
Seaweed and Heavy Metals
Aquaculture
- New England Seaweed Culture Handbook
- Dulse and halibut aquaculture
- Can Seaweed Farming Play a Role in Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation?
- Seaweed Aquaculture for Food Security
- Intensive land-based production of red and green macroalgae for human consumption in the Pacific Northwest
- Seaweed aquaculture: cultivation technologies, challenges and its ecosystem services
Climate Change
- Fisheries management in a changing climate
- Changes in the range of some rocky shore species in Britain in response to climate change
- Projected 21st‐century distribution of canopy‐forming seaweeds in the Northwest Atlantic with climate change
Seaweed Information on the World Wide Web
Scientific Journals
- Journal of Phycology https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/15298817
- Journal of Applied Phycology https://link.springer.com/journal/10811
- Phycologia http://www.phycologia.org/loi/phya
Scientific Organizations
- The International Seaweed Association. https://isaseaweed.org/ The ISA is an international organization dedicated to encouraging research and development of seaweed and seaweed products, and sponsor of the International Seaweed Symposium held every 3 years at various locations around the world.
- Phycological Society of America. http://www.psaalgae.org/ The Phycological Society of America (PSA) was founded in 1946 to promote research and teaching in all fields of Phycology. The society publishes the Journal of Phycology and the Phycological Newsletter.
- International Phycological Society. http://intphycsociety.org/ Founded in 1960, the mission of the IPS is to develop phycology; distribute phycological information; and foster international cooperation among phycologists and phycological societies. The IPS publishes the journal Phycologia