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Langara | Applied Research Center
Kyra Janot
Applied Research
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Wednesday, August 28, 2024 3:25:29 PM

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Researcher First Name: Kyra
Researcher Last Name: Janot
Department: Biology
Other Department:
Project Title: Seasonal seaweed diversity in the intertidal
zones of Greater Vancouver
Start semester: 9/1/2023
End Semester: 8/31/2024
Introduction - Please introduce yourself and include
pertinent background information as it relates to your
project's research area. I am both an instructor in the

Biology department and a marine biologist with a
background in seaweed evolution and ecology. Having
worked extensively in the past with seaweeds in more
remote locations of British Columbia, I wanted to gain a
better understanding of what seaweed diversity looks like
in Vancouver, a city centre that is population dense yet
notably close to nature.
Please discuss your educational background and your
work experience as it relates to this project. If possible,
include a quote that helps define your interest in the
project. I hold a BSc in Marine Biology and a PhD in
Botany. Prior to this research my graduate work was
focused on understanding how certain seaweed species
have evolved to withstand wave-swept intertidal zones,
using a combination of molecular, chemical, and
mechanical analyses. This work was done in British
Columbia, and involved a significant number of field
collections that helped me to build up a knowledge base
on many of the common seaweed species of the Pacific
Northwest. As my graduate research required extensive
molecular work to genetically distinguish between similarlooking species, I was also able to leverage this
experience to identify several cryptic species for this
project. I have also been involved in several annual
seaweed surveys on Calvert Island coordinated by the
Hakai Research Institute, which allowed me to modify
pre-existing survey protocols to get data that would be
comparable with other datasets. My interest in this
project stems from conversations with other local
phycologists (seaweed scientists), wherein we mutually
recognized that there is a surprising lack of recent and
systematically collected data on local intertidal
biodiversity. What does exist tends to focus more on
animals, yet these same animals are reliant on seaweed
as both food source and habitat. My aim, therefore, was
to not only start documenting this diversity, but to develop
methods that would make monitoring easier to maintain
in the future.
Please summarize your project in plain language that
others not in your field could understand. Seaweeds are
a critical component of marine ecosystems off the coast
of British Columbia, providing both food and habitat for a
huge diversity of vertebrate and invertebrate animals. Yet
despite their ecological importance we do not have a
comprehensive description of the health of seaweed
communities in the Greater Vancouver area, and factors
such as pollution, vessel traffic, and climate warming may
be putting them at risk. This project aims to document the
ecological diversity of local seaweed communities using
a combination of ecological surveys and environmental
DNA sampling, establishing a baseline for comparison
that can be used to understand how these communities
may be impacted by human activity in the future.
Identify the project goals and objectives. Explain how the
results may be used to solve a problem or inform further
research in the field. The major goal of this project was to
contribute to both academic and practical knowledge of
local seaweed communities in several key ways: 1)
establishing a baseline for seaweed species diversity at
multiple sites in the Greater Vancouver area; 2)
documenting seasonality of common seaweed species
with respect to when they “bloom” and die off each year,
and 3) developing environmental DNA sampling
techniques to make future monitoring more
comprehensive and efficient. Data from field surveys has
already been made publicly available via the St.
Lawrence Global Observatory Database, and may be
downloaded and used to make comparisons with other
locations or with future local work. This data includes
information on which seaweeds were visually observed at
four different locations in August 2022, November 2022,
and February 2023, including corresponding tidal heights

and abundances. As seaweeds are at the base of the
food chain for marine ecosystems, understanding their
abundance and seasonality is a critical component of
understanding fluctuations in abundance/seasonality of
other species – if the timing of seaweed blooms or dieoffs shift with ongoing climate change, documenting that
shift may allow us to understand what is going on at
higher levels up the food chain as well. Environmental
DNA sampling is a technique where DNA is extracted
from samples of water or substrate. Organisms are
constantly shedding tissues/cells into the environment,
and so DNA extracted in this way should allow for a
snapshot of all the organisms that are present in the area
(or that were present recently). Samples were collected
monthly between August 2022 and March 2023. The data
is still being analysed, but preliminary results suggest
that the range of several “introduced” seaweed species
may have to be expanded to include Vancouver. The
data is also currently being used to build a taxonomic
classification tool which, if successful, will allow for
classification of “unknown” species to higher taxonomic
levels (e.g., genus, family, and so on). While similar tools
exist for microbial communities, there is not currently one
available for seaweeds.
Briefly explain the steps taken (methods used) to conduct
the research, and describe the key findings. The large
dataset generated from the environmental DNA samples
still needs to be fully analysed, particularly sequences
that do not match any known species in publicly
accessible databases. In collaboration with Ido Hatam
and a bioinformatics student, we are working on building
a tool that will hopefully allow for identification of these
sequences to higher taxonomic levels such as genus,
family, etc. Once this is done, the dataset will be used to
look for patterns in seasonality/location. If the results look
comparable to what was shown in the transect surveys, I
intend to work on a proposal for ongoing eDNA
monitoring at a more limited number of sites.
Who was involved in this project (eg. faculty, students,
community partners)? How did their involvement
contribute to the project’s success? Were there any
challenges to overcome? All challenges faced during this
project (funding, troubleshooting protocols, safety and
logistics, training in new techniques, concerns over
respectful sampling of specimens) were ultimately
surmounted with the help of Langara’s faculty and
students, patient individuals from various municipalities
and First Nations, a network of collaborative scientists,
and a handful of community volunteers. The Department
of Fisheries and Oceans was a huge financial contributor
to this project, providing just over $50,000 towards
equipment, consumables, and student salaries. Several
DFO scientists (Janet Mossman, Paul Covert, and
Natasha Salter) were also instrumental in helping me
develop the ideas and scope of the project, as was
Bridgette Clarkston from UBC. Sue Velaquez from Hakai
Research Institute trained me on how to collect and
process environmental samples and provided me with a
sampling pole for water collections, ensuring that my
results would be comparable with other marine datasets
collected in BC. Both Natasha Salter from DFO and
Travis George from the Tsleil-Waututh Nation attended
and assisted on several field surveys. Beau Gravlin
(spouse) volunteered his time for all field surveys and
eDNA collections, which was critical for both logistics and
safety. A total of eight students from Langara worked on
this project in some capacity, whether funded through the
DFO grant, the ARC fund, or WOC/SWAP hours. Steven
Guo and Adrian Ruiz assisted me in the field as well as
during initial protocol development and troubleshooting
for DNA extractions, providing insights that ultimately
helped streamline processes for both. Carmen Fong did
the vast majority of the molecular work for both survey

and eDNA samples, with the assistance of Marielle
Mauro later on in the project. Jen Shannon helped clean
up specimens for submission to the UBC Herbarium, and
took numerous photos of tissue samples under the
microscope that proved necessary for later species
identification. Gavin Ieong, Rae Parsons, and Mendel
Kwan all contributed their bioinformatics skills to cleaning
up and analysing the massive dataset generated from
eDNA sampling. Biology faculty members Ji Yong Yang
and Ido Hatam provided critical advice and guidance for
different parts of the project, particularly molecular
protocols and data analysis. Ji’s students Avneet Kaur
and Yukiko Inokuchi helped to train my students in
molecular work. Finally, both Ji and Brendan MorrisReade (ARC Research Assistant) provided back-up
student supervision on several occasions. The city of
West Vancouver and the Vancouver Parks Board
provided me with written permission to perform
collections in the relevant municipalities, while the cities
of Surrey and North Vancouver verbally expressed that
they had no concerns. I also communicated with
representatives of the Musqueam, Tsleil-Waututh,
Squamish, Tsawwassen, and Katzie Nations regarding
any potential concerns about this work, and all took the
time to respond and let me know that they had no
concerns with the proposed work as described. Several
also expressed support and a request to receive the data
at the end of the project, which was motivational in
seeing the project through to the end.
Please share any personal stories that made this
research experience memorable/valuable.
The experience of taking students out into nature to
engage in real ecological research was incredibly
rewarding. Despite frustrations with getting new protocols
to work, problem-solving how to deal with tricky
landscapes, and the stress of needing to get everything
done within a narrow window of time due to rising tides,
their enthusiasm and resilience was impressive. There
were several instances in which they picked out unique
species that I would have otherwise passed over. It was
an important reminder that being a good scientist is not
just about academic performance and training –
creativity, flexibility, and a natural curiosity are equally as
important, if not more so. With students working in the
lab, watching them develop their skills and become more
and more independent was also very rewarding. Seeing
the value of hands-on-learning in such a direct way really
drove home the importance of giving students as many
opportunities to apply their skills, make mistakes, and
adjust accordingly. Their work ethic and determination to
figure out issues (which were almost always because of
protocols rather than human error) were additional
reminders of the importance of “soft” skills in science.
What are the next steps for this project and for you as a
researcher?
This project involved performing three sets of transect
surveys in the intertidal zone at four sites (Brockton Point
in Stanley Park, Cates Park, Crescent Beach, and
Lighthouse Park) and collecting monthly substrate and
water samples from each site. Surveys were performed
during low tide by laying out four vertical transect lines
from the high intertidal to the tideline, with a 1x1 m grid
laid down along each transect line every 5 m. Percent
cover of each visually distinct species was estimated
within the grid, and recorded along with tidal height.
Representative specimens of hard-to-identify species
were collected as vouchers, and samples were taken for
DNA extraction and sequencing. Environmental DNA
(“eDNA”) was also extracted from water and substrate
samples and subsequently sequenced. Sequences were
compared to a public database of sequences from
“known” seaweed species, to get information on which
species were present at or near the time of sampling.

Species that were seen directly during surveys were
compared with those identified via environmental
samples, to investigate whether eDNA sampling is useful
as an estimate of species diversity when standard
surveys are not possible (due to time/safety constraints
associated with late night low tides in the winter). In total
150 seaweed specimens collected during surveys were
identified using DNA sequencing, with 141 vouchers
send to the UBC Herbarium to become part of their longterm collection. While most of this was done using funds
from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the ARC
funds I received allowed me to perform additional
sequencing on a second gene for specimens that were
hard to identify in my initial attempts. Survey data was
used to generate seasonal species lists for each of the
four locations, and the full dataset was uploaded to the
St. Lawrence Global Observatory Database
(https://doi.org/10.26071/ogsl-a45b745e-a265). In
addition to the general diversity baseline that this dataset
provides, there were two particularly notable findings: 1)
one specimen that was collected and sequenced is of a
species that has not been previously documented in BC,
and 2) two known introduced species were much more
abundant than expected (unclear if this is due to a rapid
increase in abundance, or insufficient historical data).
DNA was extracted from a total of 48 water samples and
48 substrate samples, and preliminary monthly species
lists have been generated. Due to limitations of the
sequence database used for comparison there are large
portions of the dataset that have yet to be identified to
species, however preliminary results indicate presence of
several species that have not been previously
documented in the area. It is not clear whether they
represent an established introduced population or
residual organic matter from elsewhere (e.g., ballast
water), but further investigation is warranted. Analyses of
the remaining unidentified sequences is ongoing.
Please upload any images that will help to showcase
your project.
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