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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 ...
The Giant kelp marine forests of south east Australia is a community extending from the ocean floor to the ocean surface, on a rocky substrate, and has a ‘forest-like’ structure with many organisms occupying its various layers, including pelagic and demersal fishes, sea birds, turtles and marine mammals in addition to the invertebrate ...
Where the bottom is rocky and affords places for it to anchor, giant kelp forms extensive kelp beds with large "floating canopies". [8] When present in large numbers, giant kelp forms kelp forests that are home to many marine species that depend upon the kelp directly for food and shelter, or indirectly as a hunting ground for prey. Both the ...
Urchins have hurt both species, though giant kelp forests have fared better. Some believe the only way to restore kelp is to reduce the purple urchins, which can go dormant for years only to ...
Kelp forests are also some of the world's largest carbon sinks, and the Great Southern Reef therefore acts as a buffer against climate change. [7] Unfortunately, an estimated 95% of the giant kelp forests off the coast of Tasmania have died off over the past few decades due higher water temperatures and the long-spined sea urchin. [6] [8]
This "kelp highway hypothesis" suggested that highly productive kelp forests supported rich and diverse marine food webs in nearshore waters, including many types of fish, shellfish, birds, marine mammals, and seaweeds that were similar from Japan to California, Erlandson and his colleagues also argued that coastal kelp forests reduced wave ...
“The bull kelp forest that runs along the Oregon coast is a stunningly beautiful and vitally important ecosystem,” says Alanna, who studied biology with a focus on marine science at Oregon ...
An alternative offset would be to cultivate kelp forests. Kelp can grow at 2 feet per day, 30 times faster than terrestrial plants. Planting kelp across 10% of the oceans (4.5 x the area of Australia) could provide the same offset. Additionally, the kelp would support a fish harvest of 2 megatons per year and reduce ocean acidification. Large ...