Team Bio

I became captivated with algae when I was fourteen years old and spent two weeks at a marine science program on Mount Desert Island, Maine. Most of the other students were interested in marine mammals, sharks, and sea turtles yet what rocked my world was keying out local seaweeds with a field guide. I'd never seen such diversity and beauty and I wanted to learn more. I've spent the last 12 years in Maine, studying the reproductive ecology and population genetics of a common brown seaweed (Fucus vesiculosus) and researching the reproduction timing (phenology) of another brown seaweed (Ascophyllum nodosum) in relation to changes in sea surface temperatures.

While in grad school, I found citizen-based science. There is so much enthusiasm, interest, and expertise that can be harnessed from a community of interested people. A goal of mine is to teach appreciation and understanding of the often under appreciated and misunderstood algae. Working with Nic and Julie on this Heterosiphonia japonica project will provide meaningful information to a variety of stakeholders, and start conversations about the importance algae. Identifying and documenting the red seaweed invasion is best accomplished by many people collaborating and I'm excited for the chance to engage the public in participating.

Nic Blouin

Postdoctoral Researcher in Ecological and Evolutionary Genomics
In a former life as a freelance photographer, I discovered the beauty of marine macroalgae.. Continue reading on Nic's profile..

Julie A. Koester

Postdoctoral Researcher, Mount Allison University
When I was seven years old, I’d never seen the ocean..Continue reading on Julie's profile..

Jessie Muhlin

I became captivated with algae when I was fourteen years old and spent two weeks at a marine science program on Mount Desert Island, Maine. Most of the other students were interested in marine mammals, sharks, and sea turtles yet what rocked my world was keying out local seaweeds with a field guide. I'd never seen such diversity and beauty and I wanted to learn more. I've spent the last 12 years in Maine, studying the reproductive ecology and population genetics of a common brown seaweed (Fucus vesiculosus) and researching the reproduction timing (phenology) of another brown seaweed (Ascophyllum nodosum) in relation to changes in sea surface temperatures.

While in grad school, I found citizen-based science. There is so much enthusiasm, interest, and expertise that can be harnessed from a community of interested people. A goal of mine is to teach appreciation and understanding of the often under appreciated and misunderstood algae. Working with Nic and Julie on this Heterosiphonia japonica project will provide meaningful information to a variety of stakeholders, and start conversations about the importance algae. Identifying and documenting the red seaweed invasion is best accomplished by many people collaborating and I'm excited for the chance to engage the public in participating.

Nic Blouin

Postdoctoral Researcher in Ecological and Evolutionary Genomics
In a former life as a freelance photographer, I discovered the beauty of marine macroalgae.. Continue reading on Nic's profile..

Julie A. Koester

Postdoctoral Researcher, Mount Allison University
When I was seven years old, I’d never seen the ocean..Continue reading on Julie's profile..

Nic Blouin

In a former life as a freelance photographer, I became increasingly interested in the natural beauty of marine macroalgae during trips to the shore. I began using seaweeds as subject matter in cyanotype images in similar ways that naturalists like Anna Atkins had done over 150 years ago. This fed into my naturalist’s curiosity regarding the complex ecology in the intertidal zone where organisms are subjected to daily fluctuations in temperature and nutrients, predation, and competition. Now, my interests broadly relate to life history evolution and how these adaptations function to provide mechanisms for organisms to persist as members in complex intertidal communities.

I am currently focusing on a group of red seaweeds that have evolved to abandon photosynthesis and parasitize their closest evolutionary neighbors (adelphoparasitism). My interests here are principally related to the developmental similarities between the adelphoparasite and host life history stages, and how these evolutionary adaptations are conserved across red seaweeds In other words: what can change and which aspects of life history are constrained when an organism abandons a free-living life style? In a related project concerning organellar (plastid and mitochondrion) maintenance, we are looking into the evolutionary trajectories of genes that have been transferred to the nucleus but still function in organelles. In the investigation we propose here, I feel that the information gathered here by citizen scientists and analyzed by us will provide exciting insight into how adaptation effects the success or failure of organisms invading new territory (and I think it will be a ton of fun!)

Julie A Koester

When I was seven years old I saw a line drawing of a tropical giant clam in my book, but I’d never seen the ocean. The next year I stood on a cold, hard-packed intertidal sand beach in Alaska looking for the tell tale holes of razor clams to dig. That was my first taste of seawater. I went on to study seaweeds as an undergraduate researcher and have since been “downsizing” to focus on their microscopic cousins, the diatoms. I became familiar with the Gulf of Maine through sampling diatoms. My research interests lie in the mechanisms of adaptation and speciation of these beautiful single-celled phytoplankters with respect to climate forcing. I employ molecular and physiological techniques to deduce the response of diatoms to different environmental variables such as changing temperature. This information is placed in the context of the ocean, in which water is constantly being transported through tides and major currents. We might not think about it, but microscopic organisms can become invasive – it is just easier to notice the large organisms such as the red alga Heterosiphonia japonica . So these are the organisms that we need to start with in understanding the dynamics of species introductions and invasions. The same environmental conditions and transporting currents that affect the diatoms can also affect larger algae. This is why I am excited to join Jessie and Nic in tracking and monitoring H. japonica as it works its way into new habitat.