Tuesday, 27 October 2020

Sea-Weeding Comes of Age

The Victorian era 'fad' of 'sea-weeding' (as practised by Queen Victoria herself) has now been revealed as a potential 'window' on to the past (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/oct/27/what-victorian-era-seaweed-pressings-reveal-about-our-changing-seas). The algae were collected, beautifully arranged on white cards and labelled with details of the time and location of their being collected by amateur enthusiasts. The fad even travelled to the coast of California. Workers at Monterey Bay aquarium's Ocean Memory Lab have now used surviving collections (some more than 140 years old) to monitor changes in the sea that pre-date the start of oceanographic records. For example, preserved samples of the alga Gelidium revealed changes in nitrogen isotopes that matched upwelling in California, a phenomenon that results in declining sardine populations. It's amazing where you can get information from if you employ modern technologies.
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