9512829 Dawes This Americas Program award will fund collaborative research between Dr. Clinton J. Dawes, University of South Florida, and Dr. Daniel Robledo, Centro de Investigaciones y de Estudios Avanzados del I.P.N., Mexico, on the physiology and cultivation of the seaweed Gracilaria cornea. The species, occurring along the Yucatan coast of Mexico and in the lower Keys of Florida, contains a commercially important phycocolloid, agar. As a result of experiments to be conducted, strains showing high growth rates, useful morphotypes, and high yields of quality agar will be selected. It is expected that the information resulting from the proposed research will benefit those countries where algae are used as food or as raw material for the agar industries. There is a potential need for developing new sources of high quality agar in the world. More than 80% of the raw material for agar used in the U.S. is imported from distant countries. Thus, there is an important demand for agar from adjacent countries such as Mexico. This project, combining the expertise of the U.S. scientist in seaweed physiology and cultivation, with the knowledge of local seaweeds of his Mexican counterpart, may lead to the development of a new seaweed mariculture industry, that could provide the raw material for North American agar production. ***
