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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. They sequester carbon as a cushion against climate change.
Major issues of concern include marine pollution and water quality, kelp harvesting and fisheries, invasive species, [8] and climate change. [75] 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 ]
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 ...
Seaweed farming is a carbon negative crop, with a high potential for climate change mitigation. [7] [8] The IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate recommends "further research attention" as a mitigation tactic. [9] World Wildlife Fund, Oceans 2050, and The Nature Conservancy publicly support expanded seaweed ...
Seaweed farming is a carbon negative crop, with a high potential for climate change mitigation. [27] [28] The IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate recommends "further research attention" as a mitigation tactic. [29] World Wildlife Fund, Oceans 2050, and The Nature Conservancy publicly support expanded seaweed ...
Just one example is the giant bull kelp Nereocystis luetkeana, which have evolved to change blade shape in order to increase drag in water and interception of light when exposed to certain environments. Bull kelp are not unique in this adaptation; many kelp species have evolved a genetic plasticity for blade shapes for different water flow ...
The plants also help support fisheries and protect coasts from erosion. Europe alone lost one third of its seagrass areas between the 1860s and 2016, one 2019 study found, releasing carbon into ...
Many animals feed on kelp and kelp provides sheltered habitats for yet others. Sea grass is the only type of flowering plant that grows in British seas, but it nonetheless forms vast beds. Invertebrates in coastal Britain are very diverse and include brittle stars , hermit crabs , mussels , prawns , sponges , sea anemones and sea squirts .