This exhibition includes pressed and dried specimens of seaweeds I collected in the South Fork region on the East End of Long Island. Collections of dried plants or seaweeds is referred to as a Herbarium Collection and are used in research and teaching in museums and educational institutions. Herbarium specimens may last for hundreds of years. In modern times they have been used for genetic DNA analysis. Therefore, a herbarium is a valuable historical record of the flora of a particular ecological region.

The term seaweed is an acceptable scientific term which refers to a diverse assemblage of marine macro-algae. The term algae (sing. alga) is also an informal scientific term that includes all the simple aquatic photosynthetic organisms. As many as eleven phyla are included in the algae. Free-floating microscopic algae are called phytoplankton but the seaweeds are the attached or, in some cases, floating macro-marine algae.

Seaweeds for this exhibition were collected by scuba diving, snorkeling and wading at various sites in Shinnecock and Peconic Bays; at Montauk and Cedar Points and along several beaches and jetties. Specimens were picked off the rocks and collected from the drift where deeper water forms are especially abundant after storm activity. The algae were transported back to the laboratory and placed in running seawater. Seaweeds can survive for several hours out of water if they are loosely packed and have ample oxygen.

Each seaweed is mounted on 100% rag herbarium paper or archival water color paper. A specimen is floated onto paper immersed in seawater and meticulously cleaned with a medium-soft bristled brush. The seaweed is then arranged on the paper in order to show its basic shape and branching patterns to make it appear to float if it were in the sea. With an eye for science as well as aesthetics, the specimen preparer carefully separates, arranges and combs the fine branches. The more natural looking the specimen, the more useful it is to science. The value is enhanced by showing the diversity of forms and the various phases of a species’ life history. Reproductive specimens are especially useful. After mounting, the wet paper is allowed to drip dry and then is placed in a press. It is covered with a fine cotton cloth or with crumpled waxed paper and placed between blotters. A heavy weight is then placed in a press and the excess water is soaked from the herbarium sheet at room temperature. The blotters are changed daily until the paper and specimen are dry. In most cases the seaweed sticks to the paper by its own cell wall gel.

Seaweeds are important ecologically because they produce oxygen (by splitting H20) and absorb carbon dioxide. They provide shelter and food for organisms such as fish and crustaceans. They also process dissolved mineral nutrients and in some cases are part of the calcium carbonate cycle. Seaweeds have widespread commercial importance. As food (as in sushi) they are sources of essential minerals. In Asia seaweeds can be a significant part of the daily diet. Cell wall extracts, such as carageenan, are used as “smoothing” agents in foods such as ice cream. In industry they are used in paints and cosmetics. Some seaweeds produce compounds that have medicinal uses. Because seaweeds are a limited natural resource, large scale mariculture farms have been developed especially in Japan, China, Korea and Indonesia. For example, all the nori used in wrapping sushi is from marine farms.

Seaweeds fall naturally into three major groups or phyla based on their pigmentation. Even though the visible color range is highly variable, all seaweeds are considered to be either brown, green or red algae and in the phyla Phaeophyta, Chlorophyta or Rhodophyta, respectively. The pigments are related to the process of photosynthesis and are the way seaweeds harvest sunlight. They show different efficiencies in bright or dim light and use particular wavelengths of light. Light radiation is selectively filtered as it passes through seawater. For example, due to its pigment makeup a seaweed may be well- adapted to dark, deep (600 feet) waters where only blue light penetrates.

Seaweeds are evolutionarily the oldest of the large photosynthetic organisms and have had time to develop diverse strategies for survival. Most are simple, having neither vascular tissue nor complex organs. The green algae are considered to be the precursors of green land plants. Red and brown algae, on the other hand, reached evolutionary dead ends and are not precursors of any terrestrial organisms. In the sea, brown algae may be large 100ft. “trees”, as the Giant Kelp of the Eastern Pacific Coast. In Long Island Laminaria saccharina may become 20 feet long and form vast kelp forests.

Seaweeds express a wider variety of complex life cycles than land plants and animals. Often the various phases are predictably related to seasonal factors such as light-dark periods and temperature. In some cases different winter and summer forms have been given different genus names even though they are in fact the same organism. In some cases, these alternating life cycle phases aid in the seaweed's survival by avoiding seasonal grazing by animals.

I hope this unusual exhibition presents some surprises about the inhabitants of the sea and specifically increases your awareness of the fascinating diversity of seaweeds.