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Bridgette Clarkston

@bridgette.bsky.social
481 followers 117 following 81 posts

Associate Professor of Teaching at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Co-author of Pacific Seaweeds book. All algae, almost all the time. She/her. Slowly transitioning from @funnyfishes on Dumpster Fire site.

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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 16/06/2025
Playing with Postelsia. 🤩
A blue and white photographic print of sea palm seaweed with the phrase “the tide waits for no one”.
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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 15/06/2025
@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?
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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 15/06/2025
View from inside the Postelsia (sea palm kelp) forest. 🤩🌴💦 In Ucluelet, BC.
A view of the stipes of the sea palm kelp looking up from the base.
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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 13/06/2025
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
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.
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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 08/06/2025
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 fan-shaped red seaweed pressed on white herbarium paper
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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 07/06/2025
Desmarestia herbacea from Hornby Island, IRL and #cyanotype form. #phycologyfriday
A blue cyanotype of Desmarestia Acid weed held up by two people
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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 07/06/2025
Cards for our hosts on Hornby Island. Made by my UBC students 🤩💙 #phycologyfriday #cyanotype
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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
Lunchtime play! 💙🌸🎨 Cherry blossoms and a baby Macrocystis (giant kelp). Just cause they’re springtime beauties.
A cyanotype print (blue and while photographic print) showing cherry blossoms and a baby giant kelp in white, with a blue background.
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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
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 person kneeling at a tidepool, floating a red seaweed onto paperA stack of herbarium supplies sitting on driftwood, with several people in the background Students pressing seaweeds on the beachA child sitting barefoot next to a tidepool, taking notes, with a quadrat in the tidepool overtop a pile of seaweeds
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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
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!
A close up of cyanotype prints hanging from
RopeA 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
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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
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
Cyanotype print of seaweeds and the words “in our diversity lies our greatest potential”
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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
I love my kid’s school 🏳️‍🌈
A sign with a Pride+ flag and slogan “all humans are equal”
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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
Student #seaweed presses looking very good this year! 🎉 So cool to see the fruits of all their hard work this semester.
A collage of pressed seaweedsA pressed red seaweed with many small round holesTwo pressed seaweeds on paper Two stacks of seaweeds drying in plant presses, with box fans beside them.
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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
Another student project: Todd the Tardigrade learns about algae by eating their way through the phyla
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.
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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
Student #algae projects — this one a Pokémon-inspired set of #seaweed cards. 🤩🤩
A selection of seaweed-themed Pokémon cards Two seaweed-themed Pokémon cards about the giant kelpTwo seaweed-themed Pokémon cards about red seaweedsTwo seaweed-themed Pokémon cards about green seaweeds
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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 20/04/2025
Preparing baby Nereocystis (bull kelp), all lab-grown, for the cyanotype workshop at the International Seaweed Symposium.
Baby Nereocystis on a sheet for drying Baby Nereocystis on a sheet for drying
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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
So much fun teaching cyanotypes to the Future Science Leaders program at Science World! 📸🌿🎨 Doing it with one of my students and my oldest kiddo a wonderful bonus. 🤩
A table covered in many dried seaweedsThree people standing in front of Science WorldThree cyanotype papers with seaweeds being exposed to sunlight, overlooking False Creek
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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
Soliciting student feedback on our hallway activities (🧶🧩🖍️🪭) in a super profesh way 😂. Plus a few of the many feet that stop by the puzzle table.
A table with a half-built puzzle and feedback formA window with legs visible behind a table. A window with legs visible behind a table.
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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
Student seaweed presses looking 🤩🤩🤩. Many of these destined for @beatymuseum.bsky.social 🎉🎉🎉
A pressed red seaweed blade with holes like Swiss cheese. Pressed seaweeds on sheets of paper Pressed red seaweed on herbarium paperpressed kelp on herbarium paper
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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
I need some joy and maybe you do too. So here’s a lovely (and accurate!) colouring page 🖍️🌿for the five-ribbed kelp, Costaria costata. Made by a former student, CC BY-NC-SA. More here: linktr.ee/seaweedteach...
A black and white line drawing of a five-ribbed kelp, Costaria costata
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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
Over the moon about our new Natural History Collections course. Learning by doing, guided by expert curators. This week we explored the marine invertebrates and fish collections. @beatymuseum.bsky.social @ubcbotany.bsky.social
A preserved rockfish being measured with calipersA glass sea sponge on a black foam matA museum curator pointing to a drawing of a rockfish on a whiteboard A museum curator showing snail shells stored in a cabinet
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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 19/03/2024
This is what it produced with the prompt “Draw a bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana) with all parts labelled”
An illustration of a bull kelp seaweed with parts labelled. It was drawn by an AI and so doesn’t actually look anything like a real kelp, and the words are mostly nonsense.
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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 18/03/2024
Student creative algae / seaweed projects taking shape! Tasked with teaching, inspiring others as a way to share what they’ve learned about algae beyond the classroom. Best part of the semester! 🧪🦑
A cross-stitch of three brown seaweedsA guess-who style card game featuring seaweeds.Two long white skirts spread out in the sunshine with cyanotype paint on their edges.A cyanotype-printed fabric with seaweeds printed in white on the blue backgrojnd
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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 15/03/2024
Plastid-chomping sea slug! Teeny, ~5mm long, found on Codium fragile.
A small green sea slug crawling across a branch of the green seaweed Codium.
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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 15/03/2024
I asked ChatGPT to draw a seaweed and this is the nightmare it returned.
A nightmarish digital illustration of a “seaweed” with eyes riding a bicycle.
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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 24/01/2024
🌊 when it’s low, you go 🌊
Two people walking in the water at low tide on a rocky beach at night.
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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 19/01/2024
Adobe AI Firefly’s attempt to make a bull kelp colouring page (prompt used: "a simple black and white line drawing of a bull kelp seaweed (nereocystis luetkeana) floating in the ocean"). The best so far, even with a bull kelp colouring page given as reference. Fascinating! #phycologyfriday
An AI generated bull kelp colouring page, which looks more like a tree or even an oyster mushroom with a vaguely oceanic background.
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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 16/01/2024
Algae bingo! 🎉 Diving into our first lab with a game.
A bingo card for identifying algae speciesSeaweeds and pressed seaweeds on a bench with someone using a dichotomous key to identify a red blade seaweed.
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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 28/11/2023
Scuba Claus at the Vancouver Aquarium was a big hit with the kiddos! No chance getting them to notice the seaweeds 🤣
A scuba diver in a Santa Claus suit waves to a young child
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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 17/11/2023
I feel betrayed by my university. 🤣🍄
A hoodie with the letters U B C in a mushroom-print fabric.
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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 05/10/2023
“Game of Drones” and their use in coastal marine ecology 🌊🏝️🧪— Great talk today by Dr. Corey Garza. So glad he could visit #UBC for the Biodiversity Research Seminar Series.
Corey Garza giving a presentation, standing in front of a large screen with a slide saying “Game of Drones” and “automation is coming”.
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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 30/09/2023
Talking coenocytic green algae in class this week. So why not a cute local Bryopsis for #PhycologyFriday.
A filamentous green alga against a black background, viewed under a dissecting microscope. The green filaments are thin, highly branched and illuminated from beneath, making them almost glow.
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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 29/09/2023
Pom poms! Easy, fun way to do an exit survey at a social event.
A table with a question prompt asking visitors to indicate “how many people did you talk to at the welcome back event”. There is a tub of colourful Pom poms and cups for people to use with labels in front “1-2”, “3-4”, “5”, “6”.
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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 15/09/2023
Ended our @ubc #climatestrike posting open letter to Board of Governors on their building, calling for more accountability on #climate and #sustainability issues, starting w/more affordable housing now. #ubccanfixit
Two people standing in front of the UBC alumni building, posting an open letter to the doors. One person wears a sign saying “prof on strike for climate”A crowd of people in front of the UBC Alumni Building listening to a Climate Strike speaker
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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 01/09/2023
Got my #seaweed chess set on display, ready for a new teaching semester. 🌈🤩♟️A student project from last year’s #algae course. Total student creative awesomeness for #phycologyfriday!
A chess set made of clear resin with seaweeds embedded in each piece and throughout the board. Next to it is a Lego set of diversely colored mini figs and the label “everyone is awesome”
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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 30/08/2023
Furthering my denial of how much course prep still to do by tidying my office. Shelves! A sense of control and order! 🤣
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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 30/08/2023
Feeling happy that I get to walk by this beauty on my walk to #algae class starting next week. @polarisdotca.bsky.social you’ll know this one — right outside Hennings Building.
Looking up at a mature leafy tree, with wide spreading branches and many large green leaves. A blue sky behind.
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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 29/08/2023
My office door is cleared, ready for the next wave of student artwork. 🎨🖼️🌲My fav start-of-semester tradition.
And office door and window with very little posted on them besides two blue seaweeds and a folder of colouring pages.
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Bridgette Clarkston @bridgette.bsky.social · 22/08/2023
Hey @drkelp.bsky.social look who I found featured in Kazoo kids’ magazine. Nice one! 🎉
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