This award will support a cooperative research program involving Prof. B.H. Brinkhuis of the Marine Sciences Research Center, SUNY-Stony Brook and Prof. Jose Zertuche of the Universidad Autonoma de Baja California, Mexico. The project has the goal of investigating important factors in the growth and survival of the red seaweed, Eucheuma uncinatum, in the Gulf of California. This study should be of importance in developing mariculture strategies for this economically important species. Since carrageenan can be extracted from Eucheuma, it would be beneficial to develop means to produce this seaweed (actually an alga) under controlled conditions on a commercial scale. In addition to the general desirability of growth under controlled conditions, it has also recently become apparent that natural populations of Eucheuma in the Gulf of California are not sufficiently large to sustain a carrageenan-extraction industry. However, not enough is known about the life cycle of Eucheuma--and particularly about the relationship between its annual life cycle and photosynthesis and respiration--to commence mariculture. Such knowledge will be obtained by performing controlled experiments on oxygen exchanges of Eucheuma in water samples as a function of sunlight, and relating the level of irradiance to seasonal and depth variations. Complementary expertise and facilities at the cooperating institutions will be used, and the end result could not only be greater understanding of the cyclical processes that occur in Eucheuma, but also the development of an important industry in Baja California and elsewhere.
