UAB Marine Biologist To Explore Life Cycle Diversity In Red Seaweed

By Alicia Rohan

Red seaweeds play a critical role in economies worldwide, as they are used in hair products, toothpaste and food. A researcher in the University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Biology received the Ray Lankester Investigatorship, which allows her to carry out research with a colleague at the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom.

This work will advance knowledge of how and why some invasive species with complicated life cycles are capable of spreading rapidly, and profoundly altering their new habitats.

“Algae play a vital role in marine ecosystems,” said Stacy Krueger-Hadfield, Ph.D., assistant professor in the UAB College of Arts and Sciences. “They’re even responsible for a huge percentage of the air we breathe. If these systems are disturbed by transferring various types of seaweed into novel, or foreign, ecosystems, it could change the dynamics of other organisms that live in that space.” By understanding the differences between the free-living stages of red algal life cycles, Krueger-Hadfield hopes to identify risks and opportunities of transferring seaweed between communities. When seaweeds invade a new habitat, either naturally or through anthropogenic means, they often lose one of their free-living stages.

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