Course

Course Overview

This short course is part of a planned suite of short courses on seaweed aquaculture developed by the Scottish Association of Marine Science (SAMS) to explore best practice in seaweed cultivation. It draws on existing and emerging understanding of seaweed cultivation based on research and practice as part of a wider programme based at SAMS to build capacity in seaweed cultivation across Europe. This module, the only one in the suite built so far, focuses on parasites, the amusing title is based on the opening lines of conversations we have had with people involved in seaweed cultivation – my seaweed looks weird.

An ability to understand the role of parasites in natural and cultivated systems is critical to any commercial exploitation of plants or animals, seaweed growing is no different. In a short course like this we cannot cover all the causes of weird looking seaweeds, but we can provide readers with an introduction to parasites in aquatic ecosystems and their role in seaweed cultivation along with some guidance on further reading.

Learning outcomes

After working through this course, you will have:

• the ability to describe the natural importance of parasite and disease-causing organism in pristine aquatic ecosystems;
  
• the ability to describe the concerns caused by diseases in the major production facilities, true pathogens and other pests.

The core content should take around 5 hours to work through, you will have the opportunity to test your understanding and gain a badge to recognise your learning through taking a series of quizzes.  For more information about digital badges see the Course and badge information page.

Creation of this course has been facilitated by the Opening Educational Practices in Scotland Project.

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