Articles | Volume 23, issue 8
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-2747-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-2747-2026
Technical note
 | 
21 Apr 2026
Technical note |  | 21 Apr 2026

Technical note: Development of an extraction protocol and colorimetric analysis for alginate in marine sediment

Sota Nakazato, Takashi Kawahara, Reiji Ichii, Shingo Akita, Akira Inoue, Masaki Fujita, Hideyuki Kurihara, Mitsuhiro Nakaya, and Atsushi Ooki

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Cited articles

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Cai, J., Lovatelli, A., Aguilar-Manjarrez, J., Cornish, L., Dabbadie, L., Desrochers, A., Diffey, S., Garrido Gamarro, E., Geehan, J., Hurtado, A., Lucente, D., Mair, G., Miao, W., Potin, P., Przybyla, C., Reantaso, M., Roubach, R., Tauati, M., and Yuan, X.: Seaweeds and microalgae: an overview for unlocking their potential in global aquaculture development, FAO Fish. Aquacul. Circul., 1229, 1–48, https://doi.org/10.4060/cb5670en, 2021. 
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Seaweeds can store carbon in the ocean, but traditional methods in food chemistry fail to measure alginate—a major organic component derived from brown algae—in seafloor mud. We developed a novel extraction method for alginate in marine sediments. This allows for high recovery rates, and we successfully used this method to quantify alginate in marine sediments from northern Japan. Our work establishes a reliable method to track alginate on the ocean floor.
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