Bridgette Clarkston

Just published our #Seaweed Knowledge Cards for Hornby Island, BC as an #OER 🎉 Excited for this work to be used by others. Seaweed knowledge for all! 🥳 @ubcbiology.bsky.social @beatymuseum.bsky.social

oercommons.org/courseware/l...

1) Huge YES to previous enthusiasm comments, 2) in a large crowd, repeat questions so all feel included, 3) when appropriate, if asked a super-local question (eg, “where’s the highest diversity of X on the Island?”), invite others to comment, 4) bring props/activity sheets/etc — things to touch!

A blue and white photographic print of sea palm seaweed with the phrase “the tide waits for no one”.

Playing with Postelsia. 🤩

@adlysia.bsky.social found these bumpy, more rounded wide bladelets at the base of an Egregia in Ucluelet on Vancouver Island. Could they be sporophylls?

A view of the stipes of the sea palm kelp looking up from the base.

View from inside the Postelsia (sea palm kelp) forest. 🤩🌴💦
In Ucluelet, BC.

#phycologyfriday

Amazing!

A set of cards on a ring. The front card says “Hornby island seaweed knowledge cards”.

A set of cards on a ring. The front card shows a red seaweed with an insert photo of the close-up of the bumpy texture of the seaweed.

So proud of this collaborative product: a set of #seaweed knowledge cards for Hornby Island, BC, made with kids from the local school (using many of their photos!), the HI Natural History Centre, UBC biology undergrads, @ubcbotany.bsky.social and @beatymuseum.bsky.social

Some Notes on the City of Angels and the Nature of Violence I think maybe it's begun, the bigger fiercer backlash against the Trump Administration which is itself a violent backlash against every good thing that's happened over the past several decades – the a...

" I also believe that those of us who are older, whiter, safer from the threats of state violence do not have the moral ground to lecture the younger, browner and blacker, more directly impacted demographic on what they should and should not do." www.meditationsinanemergency.com/some-notes-o...

A fan-shaped red seaweed pressed on white herbarium paper

Beauty of a Cryptopleura seaweed press, made by a grade 7/8 student during a recent outreach trip to Hornby Island, assisted by students from @ubcbiology.bsky.social. Destined for the @beatymuseum.bsky.social. 🤩

A blue cyanotype of Desmarestia

Acid weed held up by two people

Desmarestia herbacea from
Hornby Island, IRL and #cyanotype form. #phycologyfriday

Cards for our hosts on Hornby Island. Made by my UBC students 🤩💙
#phycologyfriday
#cyanotype

#PhycologyFriday, with a (poor) attempt to place some macroalgae in a 🌈PRIDE🌈constellation. Well, well. Anyways, happy pride everyone 🏳️‍🌈

Harnessing natural history collections for collaborative pandemic preparedness Five years after the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, we have the opportunity to gather lessons learned about needed infrastructure for predicting, und

Harnessing natural history collections for collaborative pandemic preparedness

Paul et al. 2025 BioScience

"Despite their potential for contributing to pandemic preparedness, natural history collections are underused"

academic.oup.com/bioscience/a...

Ha! Thanks Peter. Come make one with me next time you’re in Vancouver!

Thanks!

A cyanotype print (blue and while photographic print) showing cherry blossoms and a baby giant kelp in white, with a blue background.

Lunchtime play! 💙🌸🎨
Cherry blossoms and a baby Macrocystis (giant kelp). Just cause they’re springtime beauties.

A person kneeling at a tidepool, floating a red seaweed onto paper

A stack of herbarium supplies sitting on driftwood, with several people in the background

Students pressing seaweeds on the beach

A child sitting barefoot next to a tidepool, taking notes, with a quadrat in the tidepool overtop a pile of seaweeds

Pressing #seaweeds right on the beach! Fantastic job by the Hornby Island grade 7/8 class. Many beautiful specimens collected, destined for the @beatymuseum.bsky.social. Equally fantastic job by our UBC crew of students and Beaty staff who helped the kids. 🤩 @ubcbiology.bsky.social

A close up of cyanotype prints hanging from Rope

A group of people on a lawn in front of a small building. There is a display of cyanotype prints strung along a rope behind the group.

A child kneeling with a piece of painted paper and seaweeds on top. The paper says “take chances. Make mistakes. Get messy.”

A table covered with dried seaweeds ready for printing

Such a joy to take a crew of UBC students to Hornby Island. We worked with the local school to collect and preserve seaweeds for the @beatymuseum.bsky.social. And of course had to do some #cyanotype prints!

Cyanotype print of seaweeds and the words “in our diversity lies our greatest potential”

Lovely #seaweed #cyanotype, lovely message. Made by a grade 7 student during a recent outreach trip to Hornby Island, BC, a collaboration with UBC students and the Beaty Biodiversity Museum 💙
@ubcbiology.bsky.social @ubcbotany.bsky.social @beatymuseum.bsky.social

A sign with a Pride+ flag and slogan “all humans are equal”

I love my kid’s school 🏳️‍🌈

1/ Just in time for #WorldOceanDay:

Check out our new study in #npjOceanSustainability taking critical first look at whether Canada's kelp forests can be a source of natural climate solutions.

We offers a blueprint for other countries looking to do the same.

🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s44...

2 versions of the same design, all of which say "Biology is bigger than binaries", with a central image of a bee, a clownfish, and a lily. The one on. the left is pink, the right is orange,

You've got ~a week left to pre-order our collab w/@franzanth.bsky.social, Bigger Than Binaries!

I'll order some extras in orange in a limited size range because I lack a warehouse, I have only a room full of lizards.

Printed locally on 100% cotton.

Get 'em while you can! squidfacts.bigcartel.com

Exciting (?) news! #cosewic has finally assessed the state of #pycnopida as #endangered. It’s an important step to getting this species federal status and therefore protection. Pycnos are so important to BC’s marine ecosystems and kelp forests. #conservation #iucnredlist #canada #sara

A collage of pressed seaweeds

A pressed red seaweed with many small round holes

Two pressed seaweeds on paper

Two stacks of seaweeds drying in plant presses, with box fans beside them.

Student #seaweed presses looking very good this year! 🎉 So cool to see the fruits of all their hard work this semester.

A page of a comic book about a tardigrade who learns all about algae.

A second page of a comic book about a tardigrade who learns all about algae.

A third page of a comic book about a tardigrade who learns all about algae.

A fourth page of a comic book about a tardigrade who learns all about algae.

Another student project: Todd the Tardigrade learns about algae by eating their way through the phyla

A selection of seaweed-themed Pokémon cards

Two seaweed-themed Pokémon cards about the giant kelp

Two seaweed-themed Pokémon cards about red seaweeds

Two seaweed-themed Pokémon cards about green seaweeds

Student #algae projects — this one a Pokémon-inspired set of #seaweed cards. 🤩🤩

Baby Nereocystis on a sheet for drying

Baby Nereocystis on a sheet for drying

Preparing baby Nereocystis (bull kelp), all lab-grown, for the cyanotype workshop at the International Seaweed Symposium.

Ahhhh, so gorgeous! Let the seaweeds cleanse your feed. 🤩

Good news!
The PSA Membership Committee is able to offer a handful of additional free and discounted PSA memberships! Please read the instructions on the PSA website (www.psaalgae.org/membership-i...) and apply by May 1st using the indicated form.
Recipients will be notified by the end of May.