Seaweed cultivation attracts growing interest and sustainability assessments from various perspectives are needed. The paper presents a holistic qualitative assessment of ecosystem services affected by seaweed cultivation on the Swedish west coast. Results suggest that supporting, regulating and provisioning services are mainly positively or non-affected while some of the cultural services are likely negatively affected. The analysis opens for a discussion on the framing of seaweed cultivation - is it a way of supplying ecosystem services and/or a way of generating valuable biomass? Exploring these framings further in local contexts may be valuable for identifying trade-offs and designing appropriate policies and development strategies. Many of the found impacts are likely generalizable in their character across sites and scales of cultivation, but for some services, including most of the supporting services, the character of impacts is likely to be site-specific and not generalizable.
Seaweed cultivation and processing industries could contribute to sustainable blue growth and the European bioeconomy. This article contributes a case study evaluation of environmental sustainability of preserved brown seaweed Saccharina latissima by means of environmental life cycle assessment of a pilot facility in Sweden. The study accounts for nutrient bioremediation and carbon capture and includes two alternative hatchery processes, a 2-ha longline cultivation, and four alternative preservation methods (hang-drying outdoors, heated air-cabinet drying, ensiling, and freezing). The study found that as a result of carbon capture and nitrogen and phosphorus uptake (bioremediation) by seaweed, more CO2 and PO4 equivalents are (temporarily) absorbed than emitted by the supply chain. The extent of emissions is most affected by preservation methods undertaken. Impact profiles of the supply chain show that the greatest impact shares result from freezing and air-cabinet drying, both the two most energy-intensive processes, followed by the cultivation infrastructure, highlighting strategic optimization opportunities. Hatchery processes, harvesting, and the low-energy ensilage and hang-drying outdoors were found to have relatively small impact shares. These findings presage the environmentally friendliness of seaweed-based products by documenting their potential to mitigate eutrophication and climate change, even when taking a life cycle perspective.
Predation by polyps of the scyphozoan Aurelia aurita (L.) on planula larvae of their own species and on planulae of the scyphozoan Cjfanea capillata (L.) was studied in laboratory experiments.Transplant experiments in the field tested whether high densities of established A. aurita polyps could affect the recruitment of planktonic larvae and if Interactions between the polyps occur. More planula larvae of C. caplllata than of A. aurita were eaten by the polyps. The transplant experiments showed that dense covers of A. aurita polyps can affect recruitment of planulae and other planktonic larvae to hard-bottom communities. The most likely explanation is predation on the larvae. Interactions indicating competition for space or food between already established polyps and settling planulae were observed. Mortality among established polyps was greater at high than at low densities. Planula larvae of both A. aurita and C. capillata showed an increased rate of metamorphosis in the presence of A. aurita polyps in the laboratory experiments.
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