ASPAB Australasian Society for Phycology and Aquatic Botany

We are excited to announce that our 2024/2025 Newsletter has arrived!!

Recently, the 39th Australasian Society for Phycology and Aquatic Botany (ASPAB) annual meeting took place at Te Herenga Waka or Victoria University of Wellington, in New Zealand, in November. We had 35 speakers, covering seagrass, harmful algal blooms (HABs), Macrocystis, and Undaria.

It was a great opportunity for students to share with an engaging audience.

Huge congratulations to Imogen Bunting, who won the John A. Raven award for her talk on the physiological and transcriptomic responses of Macrocystis pyrifera sporophytes. Also for Olle Pontén and Anna Wilson, who won 1st and 2nd awards respectively, for their talks on 3D movement of dinoflagellates and molecular diversity of Asparagopsis taxiformis.

Special thanks to Joe Zuccarello for organising the meeting.

Our annual meeting is coming up!! Registration has been extended till October 23rd and abstracts are due November 1st. Hope to see you all there!!!

✨ ASPAB Shirts Now Available! ✨
Show off your love of algae and support ASPAB at the same time 🌿👕
Official ASPAB T-shirts are now available to order through Moore’s Department Store.
🗓️ Want to wear yours at the ASPAB Conference this November? Order soon! Please allow up to 5 weeks for delivery to New Zealand and 3–4 weeks for delivery within Australia. Each shirt is printed to order, and a portion of proceeds goes directly back to ASPAB to support society initiatives and students.
👉 Order now: https://mooresdepartmentstore.com/collections/aspab-collection

-Commonly known as golden kelp, common kelp, spiny kelp or leather kelp.

-Found in the low intertidal zone to depths of approximately 25 metres (82 ft) and rarely exceeds a length of 1 metre (3 ft 3 in).

-Research suggests that Ecklonia radiata and its polysaccharides may offer benefits for gut health.

Follow the link below to renew your ASPAB membership for the year.

-Student and retired members $25
-Full members $50

https://www.aspab.org/join/

Seaweed, cinema, and sustainability! 🌿🎬
ASPAB were proud to join the first-ever Seaweed Film Festival at Cook University for International Seaweed Day! A celebration of seaweed research, storytelling, and delicious urchin uni 🦪🌊
🎥 Featuring White Rock by the Southern Reef Foundation and a lineup of inspiring short seaweed films.

Join us!

At ASPAB, membership is available for anybody with an interest in any aspect of phycology and aquatic botany.

Follow the link below to renew your membership or sign-up!

https://www.aspab.org/join/

Photo shown is from APCOP-V conference 2024

-Daimonympha’s morphology does not match other known Parabasalia, and its SSU rRNA gene sequence supports this.

-Daimonympha shares a feature with Cristamonadea, a rapid, smooth, and continuous rotation of the anterior end of the cell, including the many karyomastigont nuclei.

-The function of the rotations and the cellular mechanisms enabling it are unknown

On the 18 - 20th of March this year, a few members of our ASPAB team attended the Seagriculture conference in Adelaide, Australia. It was a a great time for all who went and we were grateful for the opportunity.

-Also known as Wakame, Native in the North-West Pacific Region (Japan, China and Korea).

-Fertile plants have a distinctive sporophyll at it’s base.

-Considered an invasive pest in areas such as Tasmania and New Zealand.

-Spreads by coastal shipping.

-Can grow up to 3 metres high.