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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.
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 ...
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 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 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.
Frequently considered an ecosystem engineer, kelp provides a physical substrate and habitat for kelp forest communities. [50] 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: [49]
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.
The team of divers was training in the giant kelp forests of eastern Santa Cruz Island in California’s Channel Islands National Park. Curious sea creature follows diver in kelp forest — and ...