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Kelp forest

January 31, 2023

Kelp forests are underwater areas with a high density of kelp, which covers a large part of the world's coastlines. Smaller areas of anchored kelp are called kelp beds. They are recognized as one of the most productive and dynamic ecosystems on Earth.[1][2] Although algal kelp forest combined with coral reefs only cover 0.1% of Earth's total surface, they account for 0.9% of global primary productivity.[3] Kelp forests occur worldwide throughout temperate and polar coastal oceans.[1] In 2007, kelp forests were also discovered in tropical waters near Ecuador.[4]

Global distribution of kelp forests

"I can only compare these great aquatic forests...with the terrestrial ones in the intertropical regions. Yet if in any country a forest was destroyed, I do not believe so nearly so many species of animals would perish as would here, from the destruction of kelp. Amidst the leaves of this plant numerous species of fish live, which nowhere else could find food or shelter; with their destruction the many cormorants and other fishing birds, the otters, seals and porpoise, would soon perish also; and lastly, the Fuegian[s]...would...decrease in numbers and perhaps cease to exist.

– Charles Darwin, 1 June 1834, Tierra del Fuego, Chile[5]

Physically formed by brown macroalgae, kelp forests provide a unique habitat for marine organisms[6] and are a source for understanding many ecological processes. Over the last century, they have been the focus of extensive research, particularly in trophic ecology, and continue to provoke important ideas that are relevant beyond this unique ecosystem. For example, kelp forests can influence coastal oceanographic patterns[7] and provide many ecosystem services.[8]

However, the influence of humans has often contributed to kelp forest degradation. Of particular concern are the effects of overfishing nearshore ecosystems, which can release herbivores from their normal population regulation and result in the overgrazing of kelp and other algae.[9] This can rapidly result in transitions to barren landscapes where relatively few species persist.[10][11] Already due to the combined effects of overfishing and climate change, kelp forests have all but disappeared in many especially vulnerable places, such as Tasmania's east coast and the coast of Northern California.[12][13] The implementation of marine protected areas is one management strategy useful for addressing such issues, since it may limit the impacts of fishing and buffer the ecosystem from additive effects of other environmental stressors.

Kelp

Main article: Kelp

The term kelp refers to marine algae belonging to the order Laminariales (phylum: Ochrophyta). Though not considered a taxonomically diverse order, kelps are highly diverse structurally and functionally.[8] The most widely recognized species are the giant kelps (Macrocystis spp.), although numerous other genera such as Laminaria, Ecklonia, Lessonia, Nereocystis, Alaria, and Eisenia are described.

A wide range of sea life uses kelp forests for protection or food, including fish. In the North Pacific kelp forests, particularly rockfish, and many invertebrates, such as amphipods, shrimp, marine snails, bristle worms, and brittle stars. Many marine mammals and birds are also found, including seals, sea lions, whales, sea otters, gulls, terns, snowy egrets, great blue herons, and cormorants, as well as some shore birds.[14]

Frequently considered an ecosystem engineer, kelp provides a physical substrate and habitat for kelp forest communities.[15] In algae (kingdom Protista), the body of an individual organism is known as a thallus rather than as a plant (kingdom Plantae). The morphological structure of a kelp thallus is defined by three basic structural units:[10]

  • The holdfast is a root-like mass that anchors the thallus to the sea floor, though unlike true roots it is not responsible for absorbing and delivering nutrients to the rest of the thallus.
  • The stipe is analogous to a plant stalk, extending vertically from the holdfast and providing a support framework for other morphological features.
  • The fronds are leaf- or blade-like attachments extending from the stipe, sometimes along its full length, and are the sites of nutrient uptake and photosynthetic activity.

In addition, many kelp species have pneumatocysts, or gas-filled bladders, usually located at the base of fronds near the stipe. These structures provide the necessary buoyancy for kelp to maintain an upright position in the water column.

The environmental factors necessary for kelp to survive include hard substrate (usually rock or sand), high nutrients (e.g., nitrogen, phosphorus), and light (minimum annual irradiance dose > 50 E m−2[16]). Especially productive kelp forests tend to be associated with areas of significant oceanographic upwelling, a process that delivers cool, nutrient-rich water from depth to the ocean's mixed surface layer.[16] Water flow and turbulence facilitate nutrient assimilation across kelp fronds throughout the water column.[17] Water clarity affects the depth to which sufficient light can be transmitted. In ideal conditions, giant kelp (Macrocystis spp.) can grow as much as 30–60 cm vertically per day. Some species, such as Nereocystis, are annuals, while others such as Eisenia are perennials, living for more than 20 years.[18] In perennial kelp forests, maximum growth rates occur during upwelling months (typically spring and summer) and die-backs correspond to reduced nutrient availability, shorter photoperiods, and increased storm frequency.[10]

Kelps are primarily associated with temperate and arctic waters worldwide. Of the more dominant genera, Laminaria is mainly associated with both sides of the Atlantic Ocean and the coasts of China and Japan; Ecklonia is found in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa; and Macrocystis occurs throughout the northeastern and southeastern Pacific Ocean, Southern Ocean archipelagos, and in patches around Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.[10] The region with the greatest diversity of kelps (>20 species) is the northeastern Pacific, from north of San Francisco, California, to the Aleutian Islands, Alaska.

Although kelp forests are unknown in tropical surface waters, a few species of Laminaria have been known to occur exclusively in tropical deep waters.[19][20] This general absence of kelp from the tropics is believed to be mostly due to insufficient nutrient levels associated with warm, oligotrophic waters.[10] One recent study spatially overlaid the requisite physical parameters for kelp with mean oceanographic conditions and produced a model predicting the existence of subsurface kelps throughout the tropics worldwide to depths of 200 m (660 ft). For a hotspot in the Galapagos Islands, the local model was improved with fine-scale data and tested; the research team found thriving kelp forests in all eight of their sampled sites, all of which had been predicted by the model, thus validated their approach. This suggests that their global model might actually be fairly accurate, and if so, kelp forests would be prolific in tropical subsurface waters worldwide.[4] The importance of this contribution has been rapidly acknowledged within the scientific community and has prompted an entirely new trajectory of kelp forest research, highlighting the potential for kelp forests to provide marine organisms spatial refuge under climate change and providing possible explanations for evolutionary patterns of kelps worldwide.[21]

Ecosystem architecture

 
Rockfish swimming around giant kelp
 
A diver in a kelp forest off the coast of California
 
A kelp forest off of the coast of Anacapa Island, California
 
Giant kelp uses gas-filled floats to keep the plant suspended, allowing the kelp blades near the ocean surface to capture light for photosynthesis.

The architecture of a kelp forest ecosystem is based on its physical structure, which influences the associated species that define its community structure. Structurally, the ecosystem includes three guilds of kelp and two guilds occupied by other algae:[10]

  • Canopy kelps include the largest species and often constitute floating canopies that extend to the ocean surface (e.g., Macrocystis and Alaria).
  • Stipitate kelps generally extend a few meters above the sea floor and can grow in dense aggregations (e.g., Eisenia and Ecklonia).
  • Prostrate kelps lie near and along the sea floor (e.g., Laminaria).
  • The benthic assemblage is composed of other algal species (e.g., filamentous and foliose functional groups, articulated corallines) and sessile organisms along the ocean bottom.
  • Encrusting coralline algae directly and often extensively cover geologic substrate.

Multiple kelp species often co-exist within a forest; the term understory canopy refers to the stipitate and prostrate kelps. For example, a Macrocystis canopy may extend many meters above the seafloor towards the ocean surface, while an understory of the kelps Eisenia and Pterygophora reaches upward only a few meters. Beneath these kelps, a benthic assemblage of foliose red algae may occur. The dense vertical infrastructure with overlying canopy forms a system of microenvironments similar to those observed in a terrestrial forest, with a sunny canopy region, a partially shaded middle, and darkened seafloor.[10] Each guild has associated organisms, which vary in their levels of dependence on the habitat, and the assemblage of these organisms can vary with kelp morphologies.[22][23][24] For example, in California, Macrocystis pyrifera forests, the nudibranch Melibe leonina, and skeleton shrimp Caprella californica are closely associated with surface canopies; the kelp perch Brachyistius frenatus, rockfish Sebastes spp., and many other fishes are found within the stipitate understory; brittle stars and turban snails Tegula spp. are closely associated with the kelp holdfast, while various herbivores, such as sea urchins and abalone, live under the prostrate canopy; many seastars, hydroids, and benthic fishes live among the benthic assemblages; solitary corals, various gastropods, and echinoderms live over the encrusting coralline algae.[22] In addition, pelagic fishes and marine mammals are loosely associated with kelp forests, usually interacting near the edges as they visit to feed on resident organisms.

Trophic ecology

 
Sea urchins like this purple sea urchin can damage kelp forests by chewing through kelp holdfasts
 
The sea otter is an important predator of sea urchins
 
The jeweled top snail Calliostoma annulatum grazing on a blade of giant kelp

Classic studies in kelp forest ecology have largely focused on trophic interactions (the relationships between organisms and their food webs), particularly the understanding and top-down trophic processes. Bottom-up processes are generally driven by the abiotic conditions required for primary producers to grow, such as availability of light and nutrients, and the subsequent transfer of energy to consumers at higher trophic levels. For example, the occurrence of kelp is frequently correlated with oceanographic upwelling zones, which provide unusually high concentrations of nutrients to the local environment.[25][26] This allows kelp to grow and subsequently support herbivores, which in turn support consumers at higher trophic levels.[27] By contrast, in top-down processes, predators limit the biomass of species at lower trophic levels through consumption. In the absence of predation, these lower-level species flourish because resources that support their energetic requirements are not limiting. In a well-studied example from Alaskan kelp forests,[28] sea otters (Enhydra lutris) control populations of herbivorous sea urchins through predation. When sea otters are removed from the ecosystem (for example, by human exploitation), urchin populations are released from predatory control and grow dramatically. This leads to increased herbivore pressure on local kelp stands. Deterioration of the kelp itself results in the loss of physical ecosystem structure and subsequently, the loss of other species associated with this habitat. In Alaskan kelp forest ecosystems, sea otters are the keystone species that mediates this trophic cascade. In Southern California, kelp forests persist without sea otters and the control of herbivorous urchins is instead mediated by a suite of predators including lobsters and large fishes, such as the California sheephead. The effect of removing one predatory species in this system differs from Alaska because redundancy exists in the trophic levels and other predatory species can continue to regulate urchins.[23] However, the removal of multiple predators can effectively release urchins from predator pressure and allow the system to follow trajectories towards kelp forest degradation.[29] Similar examples exist in Nova Scotia,[30] South Africa,[31] Australia,[32] and Chile.[33] The relative importance of top-down versus bottom-up control in kelp forest ecosystems and the strengths of trophic interactions continue to be the subject of considerable scientific investigation.[34][35][36]

The transition from macroalgal (i.e. kelp forest) to denuded landscapes dominated by sea urchins (or ‘urchin barrens’) is a widespread phenomenon,[8][37][38][39] often resulting from trophic cascades like those described above; the two phases are regarded as alternative stable states of the ecosystem.[40][41] The recovery of kelp forests from barren states has been documented following dramatic perturbations, such as urchin disease or large shifts in thermal conditions.[29][42][43] Recovery from intermediate states of deterioration is less predictable and depends on a combination of abiotic factors and biotic interactions in each case.

Though urchins are usually the dominant herbivores, others with significant interaction strengths include seastars, isopods, kelp crabs, and herbivorous fishes.[10][34] In many cases, these organisms feed on kelp that has been dislodged from substrate and drifts near the ocean floor rather than expend energy searching for intact thalli on which to feed. When sufficient drift kelp is available, herbivorous grazers do not exert pressure on attached plants; when drift subsidies are unavailable, grazers directly impact the physical structure of the ecosystem.[44][45] Many studies in Southern California have demonstrated that the availability of drift kelp specifically influences the foraging behavior of sea urchins.[46][47] Drift kelp and kelp-derived particulate matter have also been important in subsidizing adjacent habitats, such as sandy beaches and the rocky intertidal.[48][49][50]

Patch dynamics

Another major area of kelp forest research has been directed at understanding the spatial-temporal patterns of kelp patches. Not only do such dynamics affect the physical landscape, but they also affect species that associate with kelp for refuge or foraging activities.[22][27] Large-scale environmental disturbances have offered important insights concerning mechanisms and ecosystem resilience. Examples of environmental disturbances include:

  • Acute and chronic pollution events have been shown to impact southern California kelp forests, though the intensity of the impact seems to depend on both the nature of the contaminants and duration of exposure.[51][52][53][54][55] Pollution can include sediment deposition and eutrophication from sewage, industrial byproducts and contaminants like PCBs and heavy metals (for example, copper, zinc), runoff of organophosphates from agricultural areas, anti-fouling chemicals used in harbors and marinas (for example, TBT and creosote) and land-based pathogens like fecal coliform bacteria.
  • Catastrophic storms can remove surface kelp canopies through wave activity, but usually leave understory kelps intact; they can also remove urchins when little spatial refuge is available.[40][45] Interspersed canopy clearings create a seascape mosaic where sunlight penetrates deeper into the kelp forest and species that are normally light-limited in the understory can flourish. Similarly, substrate cleared of kelp holdfasts can provide space for other sessile species to establish themselves and occupy the seafloor, sometimes directly competing with juvenile kelp and even inhibiting their settlement.[56]
  • El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events involve the depression of oceanographic thermoclines, severe reductions of nutrient input, and changes in storm patterns.[40][57] Stress due to warm water and nutrient depletion can increase the susceptibility of kelp to storm damage and herbivorous grazing, sometimes even prompting phase shifts to urchin-dominated landscapes.[43][46][58] In general, oceanographic conditions (that is, water temperature, currents) influence the recruitment success of kelp and its competitors, which clearly affect subsequent species interactions and kelp forest dynamics.[40][59]
  • Overfishing higher trophic levels that naturally regulate herbivore populations is also recognized as an important stressor in kelp forests.[9][36][60] As described in the previous section, the drivers and outcomes of trophic cascades are important for understanding spatial-temporal patterns of kelp forests.[28][29][34]

In addition to ecological monitoring of kelp forests before, during, and after such disturbances, scientists try to tease apart the intricacies of kelp forest dynamics using experimental manipulations. By working on smaller spatial-temporal scales, they can control for the presence or absence of specific biotic and abiotic factors to discover the operative mechanisms. For example, in southern Australia, manipulations of kelp canopy types demonstrated that the relative amount of Ecklonia radiata in a canopy could be used to predict understory species assemblages; consequently, the proportion of E. radiata can be used as an indicator of other species occurring in the environment.[61]

Human use

Kelp forests have been important to human existence for thousands of years.[62] Indeed, many now theorise that the first colonisation of the Americas was due to fishing communities following the Pacific kelp forests during the last ice age. One theory contends that the kelp forests that would have stretched from northeast Asia to the American Pacific coast would have provided many benefits to ancient boaters. The kelp forests would have provided many sustenance opportunities, as well as acting as a type of buffer from rough water. Besides these benefits, researchers believe that the kelp forests might have helped early boaters navigate, acting as a type of "kelp highway". Theorists also suggest that the kelp forests would have helped these ancient colonists by providing a stable way of life and preventing them from having to adapt to new ecosystems and develop new survival methods even as they traveled thousands of miles.[63] Modern economies are based on fisheries of kelp-associated species such as lobster and rockfish. Humans can also harvest kelp directly to feed aquaculture species such as abalone and to extract the compound alginic acid, which is used in products like toothpaste and antacids.[64][65] Kelp forests are valued for recreational activities such as SCUBA diving and kayaking; the industries that support these sports represent one benefit related to the ecosystem and the enjoyment derived from these activities represents another. All of these are examples of ecosystem services provided specifically by kelp forests. The Monterey Bay aquarium was the first aquarium[66] to exhibit an alive kelp forest.

As carbon sequesters

Kelp forests grow in rocky places along the shore that are constantly eroding carrying material out to the deep sea. The kelp then sinks to the ocean floor and store the carbon where is it unlikely to be disturbed by human activity.[67] Researchers from the University of Western Australia estimated kelp forest around Australia sequestered 1.3-2.8 teragrams of carbon per year which is 27–34% of the total annual blue carbon sequestered in the Australian continent by tidal marshes, mangrove forests and seagrass beds.[68] Every year 200 million tons of carbon dioxide are being sequestered by macroalgae such as kelp.[69]

Threats and management

 
The nudibranch Melibe leonina on a Macrocystis frond (California): Marine protected areas are one way to guard kelp forests as an ecosystem.

Given the complexity of kelp forests – their variable structure, geography, and interactions – they pose a considerable challenge to environmental managers. Extrapolating even well-studied trends to the future is difficult because interactions within the ecosystem will change under variable conditions, not all relationships in the ecosystem are understood, and the nonlinear thresholds to transitions are not yet recognized.[70] With respect to kelp forests, major issues of concern include marine pollution and water quality, kelp harvesting and fisheries, invasive species,[8] and climate change.[71] The most pressing threat to kelp forest preservation may be the overfishing of coastal ecosystems, which by removing higher trophic levels facilitates their shift to depauperate urchin barrens.[9] The maintenance of biodiversity is recognized as a way of generally stabilizing ecosystems and their services through mechanisms such as functional compensation and reduced susceptibility to foreign species invasions.[72][73][74][75] More recently, the 2022 IPCC report states that kelp and other seaweeds in most regions are undergoing mass mortalities from high temperature extremes and range shifts from warming, as they are stationary and cannot adapt quick enough to deal with the rapidly increasing temperature of the Earth and thus, the ocean.[76]

In many places, managers have opted to regulate the harvest of kelp[26][77] and/or the taking of kelp forest species by fisheries.[8][60] While these may be effective in one sense, they do not necessarily protect the entirety of the ecosystem. Marine protected areas (MPAs) offer a unique solution that encompasses not only target species for harvesting, but also the interactions surrounding them and the local environment as a whole.[78][79] Direct benefits of MPAs to fisheries (for example, spillover effects) have been well documented around the world.[9][80][81][82] Indirect benefits have also been shown for several cases among species such as abalone and fishes in Central California.[83][84] Most importantly, MPAs can be effective at protecting existing kelp forest ecosystems and may also allow for the regeneration of those that have been affected.[40][85][86]

Kelp forest restoration in California

 
Fish swarming through a kelp forest

In the 2010s, Northern California lost 95% of its kelp ecosystems due to marine heatwaves.[87][88][89][90]

Kelp bed recovery efforts in California are primarily focusing on sea urchin removal,[91] both by scuba divers,[92] and by sea otters, which are natural predators.[93][94][95][96][97]

A brown algae, Sargassum horneri, an invasive species first spotted in 2003, has also been a concern.[98][99]

Researchers at the Bodega Marine Laboratory of UC Davis are developing replanting strategies, and volunteers of the Orange County Coastkeeper group are replanting giant kelp.[100][101] Humboldt State University began cultivating bull kelp in its research farm in 2021.[102]

Research efforts at the state level to prevent kelp forest collapse in California were announced in July 2020.[103]

At the federal level, H.R. 4458, the Keeping Ecosystems Living and Productive (KELP) Act, introduced July 29, 2021, seeks to establish a new grant program within NOAA for kelp forest restoration.[104]

See also

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External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kelp forests.
  • . noaa.gov. Archived from the original on 2007-03-22.
  • . tas.gov.au. Tasmania, Australia: Department of Primary Industries, Water & Environment. Archived from the original on 2004-12-04. Excellent general information on kelp forests, as well as specific information on Tasmanian kelp forests.
  • . mbayaq.org. Monterey Bay Aquarium. Archived from the original on 1999-11-28. Watch a live feed from the kelp forest exhibit.

January 31, 2023
kelp, forest, underwater, areas, with, high, density, kelp, which, covers, large, part, world, coastlines, smaller, areas, anchored, kelp, called, kelp, beds, they, recognized, most, productive, dynamic, ecosystems, earth, although, algal, kelp, forest, combin. Kelp forests are underwater areas with a high density of kelp which covers a large part of the world s coastlines Smaller areas of anchored kelp are called kelp beds They are recognized as one of the most productive and dynamic ecosystems on Earth 1 2 Although algal kelp forest combined with coral reefs only cover 0 1 of Earth s total surface they account for 0 9 of global primary productivity 3 Kelp forests occur worldwide throughout temperate and polar coastal oceans 1 In 2007 kelp forests were also discovered in tropical waters near Ecuador 4 Global distribution of kelp forests I can only compare these great aquatic forests with the terrestrial ones in the intertropical regions Yet if in any country a forest was destroyed I do not believe so nearly so many species of animals would perish as would here from the destruction of kelp Amidst the leaves of this plant numerous species of fish live which nowhere else could find food or shelter with their destruction the many cormorants and other fishing birds the otters seals and porpoise would soon perish also and lastly the Fuegian s would decrease in numbers and perhaps cease to exist Charles Darwin 1 June 1834 Tierra del Fuego Chile 5 Physically formed by brown macroalgae kelp forests provide a unique habitat for marine organisms 6 and are a source for understanding many ecological processes Over the last century they have been the focus of extensive research particularly in trophic ecology and continue to provoke important ideas that are relevant beyond this unique ecosystem For example kelp forests can influence coastal oceanographic patterns 7 and provide many ecosystem services 8 However the influence of humans has often contributed to kelp forest degradation Of particular concern are the effects of overfishing nearshore ecosystems which can release herbivores from their normal population regulation and result in the overgrazing of kelp and other algae 9 This can rapidly result in transitions to barren landscapes where relatively few species persist 10 11 Already due to the combined effects of overfishing and climate change kelp forests have all but disappeared in many especially vulnerable places such as Tasmania s east coast and the coast of Northern California 12 13 The implementation of marine protected areas is one management strategy useful for addressing such issues since it may limit the impacts of fishing and buffer the ecosystem from additive effects of other environmental stressors Contents 1 Kelp 2 Ecosystem architecture 3 Trophic ecology 4 Patch dynamics 5 Human use 5 1 As carbon sequesters 6 Threats and management 6 1 Kelp forest restoration in California 7 See also 8 References 9 External linksKelp EditMain article Kelp The term kelp refers to marine algae belonging to the order Laminariales phylum Ochrophyta Though not considered a taxonomically diverse order kelps are highly diverse structurally and functionally 8 The most widely recognized species are the giant kelps Macrocystis spp although numerous other genera such as Laminaria Ecklonia Lessonia Nereocystis Alaria and Eisenia are described A wide range of sea life uses kelp forests for protection or food including fish In the North Pacific kelp forests particularly rockfish and many invertebrates such as amphipods shrimp marine snails bristle worms and brittle stars Many marine mammals and birds are also found including seals sea lions whales sea otters gulls terns snowy egrets great blue herons and cormorants as well as some shore birds 14 Frequently considered an ecosystem engineer kelp provides a physical substrate and habitat for kelp forest communities 15 In algae kingdom Protista the body of an individual organism is known as a thallus rather than as a plant kingdom Plantae The morphological structure of a kelp thallus is defined by three basic structural units 10 The holdfast is a root like mass that anchors the thallus to the sea floor though unlike true roots it is not responsible for absorbing and delivering nutrients to the rest of the thallus The stipe is analogous to a plant stalk extending vertically from the holdfast and providing a support framework for other morphological features The fronds are leaf or blade like attachments extending from the stipe sometimes along its full length and are the sites of nutrient uptake and photosynthetic activity In addition many kelp species have pneumatocysts or gas filled bladders usually located at the base of fronds near the stipe These structures provide the necessary buoyancy for kelp to maintain an upright position in the water column The environmental factors necessary for kelp to survive include hard substrate usually rock or sand high nutrients e g nitrogen phosphorus and light minimum annual irradiance dose gt 50 E m 2 16 Especially productive kelp forests tend to be associated with areas of significant oceanographic upwelling a process that delivers cool nutrient rich water from depth to the ocean s mixed surface layer 16 Water flow and turbulence facilitate nutrient assimilation across kelp fronds throughout the water column 17 Water clarity affects the depth to which sufficient light can be transmitted In ideal conditions giant kelp Macrocystis spp can grow as much as 30 60 cm vertically per day Some species such as Nereocystis are annuals while others such as Eisenia are perennials living for more than 20 years 18 In perennial kelp forests maximum growth rates occur during upwelling months typically spring and summer and die backs correspond to reduced nutrient availability shorter photoperiods and increased storm frequency 10 Kelps are primarily associated with temperate and arctic waters worldwide Of the more dominant genera Laminaria is mainly associated with both sides of the Atlantic Ocean and the coasts of China and Japan Ecklonia is found in Australia New Zealand and South Africa and Macrocystis occurs throughout the northeastern and southeastern Pacific Ocean Southern Ocean archipelagos and in patches around Australia New Zealand and South Africa 10 The region with the greatest diversity of kelps gt 20 species is the northeastern Pacific from north of San Francisco California to the Aleutian Islands Alaska Although kelp forests are unknown in tropical surface waters a few species of Laminaria have been known to occur exclusively in tropical deep waters 19 20 This general absence of kelp from the tropics is believed to be mostly due to insufficient nutrient levels associated with warm oligotrophic waters 10 One recent study spatially overlaid the requisite physical parameters for kelp with mean oceanographic conditions and produced a model predicting the existence of subsurface kelps throughout the tropics worldwide to depths of 200 m 660 ft For a hotspot in the Galapagos Islands the local model was improved with fine scale data and tested the research team found thriving kelp forests in all eight of their sampled sites all of which had been predicted by the model thus validated their approach This suggests that their global model might actually be fairly accurate and if so kelp forests would be prolific in tropical subsurface waters worldwide 4 The importance of this contribution has been rapidly acknowledged within the scientific community and has prompted an entirely new trajectory of kelp forest research highlighting the potential for kelp forests to provide marine organisms spatial refuge under climate change and providing possible explanations for evolutionary patterns of kelps worldwide 21 Ecosystem architecture Edit Rockfish swimming around giant kelp A diver in a kelp forest off the coast of California A kelp forest off of the coast of Anacapa Island California Giant kelp uses gas filled floats to keep the plant suspended allowing the kelp blades near the ocean surface to capture light for photosynthesis The architecture of a kelp forest ecosystem is based on its physical structure which influences the associated species that define its community structure Structurally the ecosystem includes three guilds of kelp and two guilds occupied by other algae 10 Canopy kelps include the largest species and often constitute floating canopies that extend to the ocean surface e g Macrocystis and Alaria Stipitate kelps generally extend a few meters above the sea floor and can grow in dense aggregations e g Eisenia and Ecklonia Prostrate kelps lie near and along the sea floor e g Laminaria The benthic assemblage is composed of other algal species e g filamentous and foliose functional groups articulated corallines and sessile organisms along the ocean bottom Encrusting coralline algae directly and often extensively cover geologic substrate Multiple kelp species often co exist within a forest the term understory canopy refers to the stipitate and prostrate kelps For example a Macrocystis canopy may extend many meters above the seafloor towards the ocean surface while an understory of the kelps Eisenia and Pterygophora reaches upward only a few meters Beneath these kelps a benthic assemblage of foliose red algae may occur The dense vertical infrastructure with overlying canopy forms a system of microenvironments similar to those observed in a terrestrial forest with a sunny canopy region a partially shaded middle and darkened seafloor 10 Each guild has associated organisms which vary in their levels of dependence on the habitat and the assemblage of these organisms can vary with kelp morphologies 22 23 24 For example in California Macrocystis pyrifera forests the nudibranch Melibe leonina and skeleton shrimp Caprella californica are closely associated with surface canopies the kelp perch Brachyistius frenatus rockfish Sebastes spp and many other fishes are found within the stipitate understory brittle stars and turban snails Tegula spp are closely associated with the kelp holdfast while various herbivores such as sea urchins and abalone live under the prostrate canopy many seastars hydroids and benthic fishes live among the benthic assemblages solitary corals various gastropods and echinoderms live over the encrusting coralline algae 22 In addition pelagic fishes and marine mammals are loosely associated with kelp forests usually interacting near the edges as they visit to feed on resident organisms Trophic ecology Edit Sea urchins like this purple sea urchin can damage kelp forests by chewing through kelp holdfasts The sea otter is an important predator of sea urchins The jeweled top snail Calliostoma annulatum grazing on a blade of giant kelp Classic studies in kelp forest ecology have largely focused on trophic interactions the relationships between organisms and their food webs particularly the understanding and top down trophic processes Bottom up processes are generally driven by the abiotic conditions required for primary producers to grow such as availability of light and nutrients and the subsequent transfer of energy to consumers at higher trophic levels For example the occurrence of kelp is frequently correlated with oceanographic upwelling zones which provide unusually high concentrations of nutrients to the local environment 25 26 This allows kelp to grow and subsequently support herbivores which in turn support consumers at higher trophic levels 27 By contrast in top down processes predators limit the biomass of species at lower trophic levels through consumption In the absence of predation these lower level species flourish because resources that support their energetic requirements are not limiting In a well studied example from Alaskan kelp forests 28 sea otters Enhydra lutris control populations of herbivorous sea urchins through predation When sea otters are removed from the ecosystem for example by human exploitation urchin populations are released from predatory control and grow dramatically This leads to increased herbivore pressure on local kelp stands Deterioration of the kelp itself results in the loss of physical ecosystem structure and subsequently the loss of other species associated with this habitat In Alaskan kelp forest ecosystems sea otters are the keystone species that mediates this trophic cascade In Southern California kelp forests persist without sea otters and the control of herbivorous urchins is instead mediated by a suite of predators including lobsters and large fishes such as the California sheephead The effect of removing one predatory species in this system differs from Alaska because redundancy exists in the trophic levels and other predatory species can continue to regulate urchins 23 However the removal of multiple predators can effectively release urchins from predator pressure and allow the system to follow trajectories towards kelp forest degradation 29 Similar examples exist in Nova Scotia 30 South Africa 31 Australia 32 and Chile 33 The relative importance of top down versus bottom up control in kelp forest ecosystems and the strengths of trophic interactions continue to be the subject of considerable scientific investigation 34 35 36 The transition from macroalgal i e kelp forest to denuded landscapes dominated by sea urchins or urchin barrens is a widespread phenomenon 8 37 38 39 often resulting from trophic cascades like those described above the two phases are regarded as alternative stable states of the ecosystem 40 41 The recovery of kelp forests from barren states has been documented following dramatic perturbations such as urchin disease or large shifts in thermal conditions 29 42 43 Recovery from intermediate states of deterioration is less predictable and depends on a combination of abiotic factors and biotic interactions in each case Though urchins are usually the dominant herbivores others with significant interaction strengths include seastars isopods kelp crabs and herbivorous fishes 10 34 In many cases these organisms feed on kelp that has been dislodged from substrate and drifts near the ocean floor rather than expend energy searching for intact thalli on which to feed When sufficient drift kelp is available herbivorous grazers do not exert pressure on attached plants when drift subsidies are unavailable grazers directly impact the physical structure of the ecosystem 44 45 Many studies in Southern California have demonstrated that the availability of drift kelp specifically influences the foraging behavior of sea urchins 46 47 Drift kelp and kelp derived particulate matter have also been important in subsidizing adjacent habitats such as sandy beaches and the rocky intertidal 48 49 50 Patch dynamics EditAnother major area of kelp forest research has been directed at understanding the spatial temporal patterns of kelp patches Not only do such dynamics affect the physical landscape but they also affect species that associate with kelp for refuge or foraging activities 22 27 Large scale environmental disturbances have offered important insights concerning mechanisms and ecosystem resilience Examples of environmental disturbances include Acute and chronic pollution events have been shown to impact southern California kelp forests though the intensity of the impact seems to depend on both the nature of the contaminants and duration of exposure 51 52 53 54 55 Pollution can include sediment deposition and eutrophication from sewage industrial byproducts and contaminants like PCBs and heavy metals for example copper zinc runoff of organophosphates from agricultural areas anti fouling chemicals used in harbors and marinas for example TBT and creosote and land based pathogens like fecal coliform bacteria Catastrophic storms can remove surface kelp canopies through wave activity but usually leave understory kelps intact they can also remove urchins when little spatial refuge is available 40 45 Interspersed canopy clearings create a seascape mosaic where sunlight penetrates deeper into the kelp forest and species that are normally light limited in the understory can flourish Similarly substrate cleared of kelp holdfasts can provide space for other sessile species to establish themselves and occupy the seafloor sometimes directly competing with juvenile kelp and even inhibiting their settlement 56 El Nino Southern Oscillation ENSO events involve the depression of oceanographic thermoclines severe reductions of nutrient input and changes in storm patterns 40 57 Stress due to warm water and nutrient depletion can increase the susceptibility of kelp to storm damage and herbivorous grazing sometimes even prompting phase shifts to urchin dominated landscapes 43 46 58 In general oceanographic conditions that is water temperature currents influence the recruitment success of kelp and its competitors which clearly affect subsequent species interactions and kelp forest dynamics 40 59 Overfishing higher trophic levels that naturally regulate herbivore populations is also recognized as an important stressor in kelp forests 9 36 60 As described in the previous section the drivers and outcomes of trophic cascades are important for understanding spatial temporal patterns of kelp forests 28 29 34 In addition to ecological monitoring of kelp forests before during and after such disturbances scientists try to tease apart the intricacies of kelp forest dynamics using experimental manipulations By working on smaller spatial temporal scales they can control for the presence or absence of specific biotic and abiotic factors to discover the operative mechanisms For example in southern Australia manipulations of kelp canopy types demonstrated that the relative amount of Ecklonia radiata in a canopy could be used to predict understory species assemblages consequently the proportion of E radiata can be used as an indicator of other species occurring in the environment 61 Human use EditKelp forests have been important to human existence for thousands of years 62 Indeed many now theorise that the first colonisation of the Americas was due to fishing communities following the Pacific kelp forests during the last ice age One theory contends that the kelp forests that would have stretched from northeast Asia to the American Pacific coast would have provided many benefits to ancient boaters The kelp forests would have provided many sustenance opportunities as well as acting as a type of buffer from rough water Besides these benefits researchers believe that the kelp forests might have helped early boaters navigate acting as a type of kelp highway Theorists also suggest that the kelp forests would have helped these ancient colonists by providing a stable way of life and preventing them from having to adapt to new ecosystems and develop new survival methods even as they traveled thousands of miles 63 Modern economies are based on fisheries of kelp associated species such as lobster and rockfish Humans can also harvest kelp directly to feed aquaculture species such as abalone and to extract the compound alginic acid which is used in products like toothpaste and antacids 64 65 Kelp forests are valued for recreational activities such as SCUBA diving and kayaking the industries that support these sports represent one benefit related to the ecosystem and the enjoyment derived from these activities represents another All of these are examples of ecosystem services provided specifically by kelp forests The Monterey Bay aquarium was the first aquarium 66 to exhibit an alive kelp forest As carbon sequesters Edit Kelp forests grow in rocky places along the shore that are constantly eroding carrying material out to the deep sea The kelp then sinks to the ocean floor and store the carbon where is it unlikely to be disturbed by human activity 67 Researchers from the University of Western Australia estimated kelp forest around Australia sequestered 1 3 2 8 teragrams of carbon per year which is 27 34 of the total annual blue carbon sequestered in the Australian continent by tidal marshes mangrove forests and seagrass beds 68 Every year 200 million tons of carbon dioxide are being sequestered by macroalgae such as kelp 69 Threats and management Edit The nudibranch Melibe leonina on a Macrocystis frond California Marine protected areas are one way to guard kelp forests as an ecosystem Given the complexity of kelp forests their variable structure geography and interactions they pose a considerable challenge to environmental managers Extrapolating even well studied trends to the future is difficult because interactions within the ecosystem will change under variable conditions not all relationships in the ecosystem are understood and the nonlinear thresholds to transitions are not yet recognized 70 With respect to kelp forests major issues of concern include marine pollution and water quality kelp harvesting and fisheries invasive species 8 and climate change 71 The most pressing threat to kelp forest preservation may be the overfishing of coastal ecosystems which by removing higher trophic levels facilitates their shift to depauperate urchin barrens 9 The maintenance of biodiversity is recognized as a way of generally stabilizing ecosystems and their services through mechanisms such as functional compensation and reduced susceptibility to foreign species invasions 72 73 74 75 More recently the 2022 IPCC report states that kelp and other seaweeds in most regions are undergoing mass mortalities from high temperature extremes and range shifts from warming as they are stationary and cannot adapt quick enough to deal with the rapidly increasing temperature of the Earth and thus the ocean 76 In many places managers have opted to regulate the harvest of kelp 26 77 and or the taking of kelp forest species by fisheries 8 60 While these may be effective in one sense they do not necessarily protect the entirety of the ecosystem Marine protected areas MPAs offer a unique solution that encompasses not only target species for harvesting but also the interactions surrounding them and the local environment as a whole 78 79 Direct benefits of MPAs to fisheries for example spillover effects have been well documented around the world 9 80 81 82 Indirect benefits have also been shown for several cases among species such as abalone and fishes in Central California 83 84 Most importantly MPAs can be effective at protecting existing kelp forest ecosystems and may also allow for the regeneration of those that have been affected 40 85 86 Kelp forest restoration in California Edit Fish swarming through a kelp forest In the 2010s Northern California lost 95 of its kelp ecosystems due to marine heatwaves 87 88 89 90 Kelp bed recovery efforts in California are primarily focusing on sea urchin removal 91 both by scuba divers 92 and by sea otters which are natural predators 93 94 95 96 97 A brown algae Sargassum horneri an invasive species first spotted in 2003 has also been a concern 98 99 Researchers at the Bodega Marine Laboratory of UC Davis are developing replanting strategies and volunteers of the Orange County Coastkeeper group are replanting giant kelp 100 101 Humboldt State University began cultivating bull kelp in its research farm in 2021 102 Research efforts at the state level to prevent kelp forest collapse in California were announced in July 2020 103 At the federal level H R 4458 the Keeping Ecosystems Living and Productive KELP Act introduced July 29 2021 seeks to establish a new grant program within NOAA for kelp forest restoration 104 See also EditAquaculture of giant kelpReferences Edit a b Mann K H 1973 Seaweeds their productivity and strategy for growth Science 182 975 981 Pessarrodona A Assis J Filbee Dexter K Burrows M T Gattuso J P Duarte C M Krause Jensen D Moore P J Smale D A Wernberg T 23 July 2020 Global Seaweed Productivity Science Advances 8 37 eabn2465 doi 10 1126 sciadv abn2465 hdl 10754 681467 See Fig 3 in Blakemore Robert 2018 Non Flat Earth Recalibrated for Terrain and Topsoil Soil Systems 2 4 64 doi 10 3390 soilsystems2040064 a b Graham M H B P Kinlan L D Druehl L E Garske and S Banks 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and lasting effects Ecology Letters 5 361 366 Hitting Rock Bottom The Disappearance of California s Underwater Forests The Bill Lane Center for the American West Stanford University 2021 03 18 Retrieved 2021 08 11 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link Kerlin Kat 2019 10 21 California s Crashing Kelp Forest Science and Climate Retrieved 2021 08 11 University of California Santa Cruz 2021 03 05 The collapse of Northern California kelp forests will be hard to reverse phys org Retrieved 2021 08 11 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link 5 Reasons to Protect Kelp the West Coast s Powerhouse Marine Algae Pew Research Center 2020 05 27 Retrieved 2021 08 11 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link Foster Michael S 2013 Kelp Forests in California PDF Smithsonian Contributions to the Marine Sciences a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link Williams Jonathan P Claisse Jeremy T Ii Daniel J Pondella Williams Chelsea M Robart Matthew J Scholz Zoe Jaco Erin M Ford Tom Burdick Heather Witting David 2021 04 15 Sea urchin mass mortality rapidly restores kelp forest communities Marine Ecology Progress Series 664 117 131 Bibcode 2021MEPS 664 117W doi 10 3354 meps13680 ISSN 0171 8630 S2CID 234106934 New Findings on Kelp Forest Restoration USC Sea Grant USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters Arts and Sciences Retrieved 2021 08 11 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link Saving California s kelp forests CNN Retrieved 2021 08 11 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link New Study Finds Hope for Restoration of Kelp Beds and Commercial Fisheries PolyCentric 2021 06 21 Retrieved 2021 08 11 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link Project Palos Verdes SeaTrees by Sustainable Surf 2021 Retrieved 2021 08 11 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link Hohman R 2019 Sonoma Mendocino Bull Kelp Recovery Plan for Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary and California Department of Fish amp Wildlife PDF Greater Farallones Association Retrieved 2021 08 11 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link Marine Invasive Species Channel Islands National Park U S National Park Service 2017 04 17 Retrieved 2021 08 11 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link Ritchie Erika I 2020 09 08 An Orange County marine biologist wants to weed the ocean to help kelp grow Orange County Register Retrieved 2021 08 11 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link Kelp California s Coastal Forests Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute UC Davis 2021 01 12 Retrieved 2021 08 11 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link Kelp Reforestation Program Orange County Coastkeeper Retrieved 2021 08 11 Kelp is on the Way Humboldt State Now 2021 07 12 Retrieved 2021 08 11 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link Leitzell Katherine 2020 07 06 New research to address kelp forest crisis in California California Sea Grant Retrieved 2021 08 11 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link Bittenbender Steve 2021 08 10 Huffman sponsored bill seeks grant funding to restore kelp forests SeafoodSource Retrieved 2021 08 11 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kelp forests Kelp Forest amp Rocky Subtidal Habitats noaa gov Archived from the original on 2007 03 22 Kelp Watch tas gov au Tasmania Australia Department of Primary Industries Water amp Environment Archived from the original on 2004 12 04 Excellent general information on kelp forests as well as specific information on Tasmanian kelp forests Monterey Bay Aquarium Kelp Cam mbayaq org Monterey Bay Aquarium Archived from the original on 1999 11 28 Watch a live feed from the kelp forest exhibit Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Kelp forest amp oldid 1136178379, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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