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[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]
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 ...
Kelp grows in "underwater forests" (kelp forests) in shallow oceans. Kelps were previously thought to have appeared in the Miocene , 5 to 23 million years ago based on fossils from California. [ 5 ] New fossils of kelp holdfasts from early Oligocene rocks in Washington State show that kelps were present in the northeastern Pacific Ocean by at ...
Kelp forests provide important habitats for many fish species, sea otters and sea urchins. Directly and indirectly, marine coastal ecosystems provide vast arrays of ecosystem services for humans, such as cycling nutrients and elements , and purifying water by filtering pollutants.
“Kelp forms whole forests that are supporting so many other species and so it just has this cascading effect on the near-shore ecosystem when you lose your kelp,” Elsmore said. “You’re ...
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]
Kelp forests are some of the most diverse and productive ecosystems and in the UK cover an area similar in size to the country’s woodlands.
Macrocystis is a monospecific genus [3] of kelp (large brown algae) with all species now synonymous with Macrocystis pyrifera. It is commonly known as giant kelp or bladder kelp. This genus contains the largest of all the Phaeophyceae or brown algae. Macrocystis has pneumatocysts at the base of its blades.