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Brian Kerin


M.Sc.: 1996 - 1998

Present occupation: Consulting firm in Princeton, U.S.A.

Thesis: Impact of harvesting on the nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon contents of the brown alga Ascophyllum nodosum (L.) Le Jolis (rockweed)

Brian Kerin's photograph Brian Kerin photographing some rockweed samples at Letite, Bay of Fundy, Canada (photo: Thierry Chopin).

Abstract: The impact of harvesting on nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and carbon (C) contents of Ascophyllum nodosum was studied for 13 months after an experimental harvest at Letite, in the Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick, Canada. Nutrient contents (N, P, C) were measured in apical tips, mid-sections and basal shoots of intact plants in control plots and were compared to nutrient contents of the segment of the thallus immediately below the truncation due to harvesting and basal shoots in harvested plots. From these measurements, nutrient ratios (N:P, C:N, C:P) were calculated for each part sampled.

For all parameters considered, the tissue below the point of harvesting showed nutrient physiology more similar to that of mid-sections in intact plants than to apical tips. This was consistent with the observation that all regrowth on stumps was due to growth of lateral shoots below the point of truncation and never from a new apical meristem. There was no significant difference in the nutrient contents and ratios between basal shoots below intact and harvested canopies.