They can grow in such an abundance that they create incredibly biodiverse underwater algal forests. Some species form the forest canopy by growing as high as 50 metres tall like bull kelp Nereocystis leutkeana and giant kelp Macrocystis pyrifera. Shorter species like walking stick kelp Pterygophora make up the forest understory. These lush and biodiverse kelp forests are an oasis for life. In fact, they provide important habitats for many marine species like starfish, salmon, rockfish, and kelp crabs.
With their soaring stipes and blades, kelp forests protect the eggs by slowing the movement of water. This keeps them from drifting away towards unsuitable habitats. In parts of the Pacific Northwest, sea otters play an essential role in the health of kelp forests. Sea urchins consume a lot of kelp and if their populations are left unchecked by predators, they can decimate whole forests.
Because sea urchins are a tasty snack for sea otters, they keep them under control which subsequently maintains the vitality of kelp forests. In the 19 th century, sea otter populations in the Pacific Northwest were nearly wiped out as a result of the fur trade. Between and , 89 sea otters were reintroduced along the BC coast. Take a virtual dive through kelp forests with playful sea lions in Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary! National marine sanctuary offices and visitor centers closed to the public; waters remain open NOAA's national marine sanctuary offices and visitor centers are currently closed to the public, and in accordance with Executive Order - Protecting the Federal Workforce and Requiring Mask Wearing , all individuals in NOAA-managed areas are required to follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC guidance on mask-wearing and maintaining social distances.
What is kelp? Why are kelp forests important? Generally speaking, kelps live further from the tropics than coral reefs , mangrove forests , and warm-water seagrass beds , so kelp forests do not overlap with those systems. Like those systems, though, kelp forests provide important three-dimensional, underwater habitat that is home to hundreds or thousands of species of invertebrates, fishes, and other algae. Some species aggregate and spawn in kelp forests or utilize these areas as juvenile nursery habitat.
Large predatory species of sharks and marine mammals are known to hunt in the long corridors that form in kelp forests between rows of individual plants. Though kelp forests are important ecosystems wherever they occur, they are more dynamic than the other systems mentioned above. In other words, they can disappear and reappear based on the oceanographic conditions and the population sizes of their primary herbivores.
Warmer than normal summers and seasonal changes to currents that bring fewer nutrients to kelp forests both sometimes occurring naturally combine to weaken kelps and threaten their survival in some years. Strong individual storms can wipe out large areas of kelp forest, by ripping the kelp plants from the seafloor. In Canada, kelp forests of differing species can be found off all three coasts in the Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific Oceans, with the most famous kelp forests in Canada found off the coast of British Columbia.
Kelp forests provide important three-dimensional, underwater habitat that is home to hundreds or thousands of species of invertebrates, fishes and other algae. Some species aggregate and spawn in kelp forests or utilize these areas as juvenile nursery habitat. Predatory species of sharks and marine mammals are known to hunt in the long corridors that form in kelp forests between rows of individual plants.
Though kelp forests are important ecosystems wherever they occur, they are incredibly dynamic. In other words, they can disappear and reappear based on the oceanographic conditions and the populations sizes of the species that prey on them; sea urchins. Warmer than normal summers and seasonal changes to currents that bring fewer nutrients to kelp forests both sometimes occurring naturally combine to weaken kelps and threaten their survival in some years.
Strong individual storms can wipe out large kelp forests, by ripping the kelps from the seafloor.
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