Algae

OUT OF PRINT.  REPRINT UNDER CONSIDERATION.  PLEASE ADVISE IF YOU WISH TO BACKORDER.  Until recently, seaweed for most people was nothing but a nuisance, clinging to us when we swim and stinking up the beach as it rots in the sun. With the ever-growing popularity of sushi restaurants across the world, however, seaweed is becoming a substantial part of our total food intake. And even as we dine with delight on maki, miso soup, and seaweed salads, very few of us have any idea of the nutritional value of seaweed. Here celebrated scientist Ole G. Mouritsen, drawing on his fascination with and enthusiasm for Japanese cuisine, champions seaweed as a staple food while explaining its biology, ecology, cultural history, and gastronomy. Mouritsen takes readers on a comprehensive tour of seaweed, describing what seaweeds actually are – algae, not plants – and how people of different cultures have utilised them since prehistoric times for a whole array of purposes – as food and fodder, for the production of salt, in medicine and cosmetics, as fertilizer, in construction, and for a number of industrial end uses, to name just a few.
He reveals the vast abundance of minerals, trace elements, proteins, vitamins, dietary fibre, and precious polyunsaturated fatty acids found in seaweeds, and provides instructions and recipes on how to prepare a variety of dishes that incorporate raw and processed seaweeds. Approaching the subject from not only a gastronomic but also a scientific point of view, Mouritsen sets out to examine the past and present uses of this sustainable resource, keeping in mind how it could be exploited for the future. Because seaweeds can be cultivated in large quantities in the ocean in highly sustainable ways, they are ideal for battling hunger and obesity alike. With hundreds of delectable illustrations depicting the wealth of species, colours, and shapes of seaweed.

Flora of Australia Supplementary Series No. 24. Cyanoprokaryotes (also known as cyanobacteria or blue-green algae) can form a significant component of benthic, periphytic and floating microphytic assemblages across a diverse range of habitats. They contribute to the productivity of aquatic ecosystems and, in some cases, provide the major carbon source that sustains aquatic food webs. Various members of the Oscillatoriales are known to have caused animal deaths and adversely affected human health. They are also recognised as being an important contributor to and consequence of ecosystem degradation. Their ubiquity in lakes, streams and rivers throughout much of the world, and their ability to form blooms or nuisance growths rapidly are of particular interest to scientists and water managers. Despite their importance, there are very few comprehensive regional accounts of cyanoprokaryote biodiversity in the scientific literature.

This volume provides the first detailed account of the freshwater Oscillatoriales of north-eastern Australia. It includes keys, morphological and ecological data for 6 families, 27 genera and 122 species, and photomicrographs and original illustrations to enable the accurate identification of natural populations based on stable and recognisable characters observable with the aid of light microscopy. Distributional data are based on the extensive surveys carried out by the author at 253 localities near lakes, reservoirs, streams and rivers in Queensland and the Northern Territory as well as a review of the Australian phycological literature. Three species are newly described from the genera Leptolyngbya and Trichocoleus.

Two decades ago, a Stuttgart zoo imported a lush, bright green seaweed for its aquarium. Caulerpa taxifolia was captively bred by the zoo and exposed, for years, to chemicals and ultraviolet light. Eventually a sample of it found its way to the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco, then headed by Jacques Cousteau. Fifteen years ago, while cleaning its tanks, that museum dumped the pretty green plant into the Mediterranean. This supposedly benign little plant has now become a pernicious force. Caulerpa taxifolia now covers 10,000 acres of the coasts of France, Spain, Italy, and Croatia, and has devastated the Mediterranean ecosystem. And it continues to grow, unstoppable and toxic.

This guide has precise yet concise descriptions of 100 of New Zealand’s common seaweeds, each species illustrated in watercolour.