Analysis of cold-pressed seaweed and seagrass extract for plant growth promoting capabilities

城市发展和野生栖息地之间的接口往往是一个具有挑战性的管理问题。和, 虽然许多游客没有意识到，但海滩代表了这些栖息地之一：它们为 是度假者的栖息地，是许多海洋和沿海物种的重要生态栖息地。当水手时 “植物”(海藻和海草)被冲到海滩上(潮汐海藻)，它们提供栖息地和食物。 对于潮间带无脊椎动物，其影响遍及沿海食物网，包括添加 滩涂植物的营养素。然而，当潮汐在高水平积聚或搁浅在 海滩上的大多数材料都腐烂(和臭气熏天)，不再给当地带来好处，基本上 对海滩作为生态栖息地和娱乐场所的保护造成了困扰。为了避免 在腐烂的海鱼堆上，经理们经常机械地清理海滩，并将它们作为废物运走。在一些 在某些情况下，一小部分废物被转移到农田用作土壤添加剂和 生长刺激剂；尽管通常没有对有效性进行足够的测试。与其失去生物活性 关于废物的性质，似乎存在回收潮汐输入假定的生物活性性质的潜力 通过准备一种冷压提取液(类似于堆肥茶)提供给家庭 园丁。我们的研究将验证海藻和海草的液体提取物作为植物的假设。 通过实验测试生物刺激剂对三种植物的影响：一种常见的园艺植物， 一种通常用于温室实验的模式植物，以及一种据报道利用潮汐的本地海滩植物 补充野外生长的投入物。如果观察到这些好处，这些结果将有助于进一步 潮汐资源开发增值产品与城市保护的探讨 海滩体验。

The interface between urban development and wild habitats is often a challenging management issue. And, while not realized by many tourists, beaches represent one of these habitats: they offer recreational space for vacationers, and are an important ecological habitat for many marine and coastal species. When marine "plants" (seaweeds and seagrasses) are washed ashore onto beaches (tidal wrack) they provide habitat and food for intertidal invertebrates with effects that cascade across the coastal food web, including the addition of nutrients for beach plants. However, when tidal wrack accumulates at high levels or becomes stranded on a beach with most material rotting (and stinking) and no longer providing local benefits, the wrack essentially becomes a nuisance to the preservation of beaches as ecological habitats and as recreational space. To avoid rotting piles of wrack, managers often mechanically groom beaches and remove the wrack as waste. In some cases, a small percentage of waste material is relocated to agricultural fields to be used as a soil additive and growth stimulant; albeit generally without adequate testing of effectiveness. Rather than losing bioactive properties to waste, it seems a potential exists to reclaim the putative bioactive properties of tidal inputs through the preparation of a cold-pressed extract solution (similar to a compost tea) made available to home gardeners. Our research will test the hypothesis that a seaweed and seagrass liquid extract works as a plant growth biostimulant by experimentally testing its affect on three types of plants: a common horticultural plant, a model plant commonly used in greenhouse experiments, and a native beach plant that is reported to use tidal inputs to supplement growth in the wild. If benefits are observed, these results will be useful for further explorations into the development of a value-added product from tidal wrack, and the preservation of the urban beach experience.