- Mariculture
- Developmental Biology
My research focuses on understanding the benefits of polyculture arrangements in sea farms, particularly between brown kelps and the pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas. Oysters and kelps are the largest groups of species currently cultivated in Alaska, but at the moment, it is not well understood if and how they can work together on a sea farm to benefit each other. My research will focus on better understanding if kelp can act as a significant food source to pacific oysters, using both lab and field experiments to test this. If demonstrated, this work could have significant implications on the growth of both kelp and oyster mariculture in the state, encouraging farmers to co-locate kelp with oysters to add a food source during the winter months when phytoplankton (thought to be oysters' primary food source) is naturally limited.
- Rasmuson Fisheries Research Center Fellowship, 2022