CSIRO DNA Work Reveals Seaweed Species Unknown to Science
Get the Health newsletter
Daily health & science — research, biotech, public health, the studies worth knowing. Free.
- Dr. Cintia Iha, a CSIRO seaweed taxonomist, is combining traditional field identification skills (color, texture, smell) with DNA sequencing to update marine taxonomy, finding that some seaweed 'species' long thought to be one are actually four or five distinct species.
- Researchers estimate that as much as half of seaweed species worldwide are still unknown to science, largely because many look deceptively similar and were historically grouped together, making molecular tools essential to separating lookalikes.
- Australia's Great Southern Reef hosts an old and varied marine environment with a mix of cold and milder waters that creates micro-habitats where unique species can evolve, making it a biodiversity hotspot for endemic seaweeds.
- CSIRO's Australian National Algae Culture Collection (ANACC) maintains more than 1,000 living strains of algae and seaweeds from across Australia, Antarctica and beyond, with cultures renewed on a 3-6 week schedule for faster-growing species and backup 'parent-child-grandparent' lines maintained.
- Giant kelp, which can reach 60 meters in height and forms extensive underwater forests, is under threat from rising seawater temperatures, prompting researchers to preserve its reproductive cells for potential future restoration of declining kelp forests.
- Dr. Iha's team is developing predictive bioprospecting tools that study a seaweed's biology, proteins and natural chemicals in depth to forecast what useful compounds it might produce, filling a gap that already exists for bacteria and fungi but not algae.
- Australia's seaweed taxonomy expertise is declining as many of the specialists who built the field's foundation have retired, leaving a small next generation — including Dr. Iha — to continue the work of mapping the country's marine biodiversity.
Why it matters: With up to half of seaweed species still unclassified and Australia's Great Southern Reef hosting unique endemic biodiversity, accurate taxonomy is the prerequisite for protecting the right habitats, restoring kelp forests threatened by warming seas, and identifying compounds for food, medicine and bioplastics. The simultaneous loss of senior specialists makes the current molecular-augmented effort a narrow window to document and preserve knowledge before species and expertise both disappear.
