Shoring up knowledge by the lake

WOULD that the marine biologists working on eradicating Sargassum, an invasive brown weed, at Lough Hyne in west Cork, found a way to eliminate the green weed plaguing shallow bays all over Ireland.

Besides studying the Sargassum, Dr Colin Little, of Bristol University, Dr Cynthia Trowbridge, of the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, and Dr Rob McAllen, of UCC, are monitoring the changes in the shore fauna and flora of the lough, a sea-water lake a kilometre long and almost as wide connected to the Atlantic Ocean by a narrow channel. The tides filling Lough Hyne twice a day create a habitat of warm, well-oxygenated water supporting a diversity of marine plants and animals, including 72 fish species. Dr Little has been monitoring Lough Hyne annually since 1979, and Dr Trowbridge was recently awarded a National Science Foundation International grant of $150,000 to continue the work and study sea urchin settlement.

Earlier this year, an engaging book, Lough Hyne, The Marine Researchers — in Pictures was compiled by Terri Kearney, with funding from UCC and The Gwendoline Harold Barry Trust.