Kelp Forests Massive Floating Mats

Also like a terrestrial forest kelp forests experience seasonal changes.

Kelp forests massive floating mats. Our ultimate goal is to cover all the coastlines of the world that support giant kelp forests. This is perhaps the main reason why we are so interested in kelp in the first place and so far floating forests has allowed us to build some of the most complete kelp forest datasets around. When kelp dislodges from its holdfast it forms a floating mat known as a kelp paddy. These two coastal kelp beds are located near san diego and los angeles respectively and are infamous for sustaining massive kelp loss in the first half of the 1900s.

In ideal conditions kelp can grow up to 18 inches per day and in stark contrast to the colorful and slow growing corals the giant kelp canopies tower above the ocean floor. Soon we will be adding a new set of images to the project this time examining a few key high risk locations with a fine toothed comb. Some members of the class. Over the last century they have been the focus of extensive research particularly.

Visitors to the floating forests website will see thousands of images from giant kelp forests in chile south africa and other coastlines around the world. Kelp forests like these contain a high level of biodiversity. This was due to a variety of factors some natural and some human but it seems that urban sewage discharge was the straw that broke the kelp forests back. Physically formed by brown macroalgae kelp forests provide a unique habitat for marine organisms and are a source for understanding many ecological processes.

The first few months of floating forests have been a huge success and we are hopeful that we will soon be able to expand the project to other regions cavanaugh said. With the kelp forest in the images isolated byrnes and his colleagues will analyze the results to help estimate how much total carbon over time across the globe is locked up in giant kelp. Fish that do not live in the kelp benefit from the animals that grow there as forage items illustrating the effects of kelp extend beyond the boundaries of the forest. Another example is sargassum which creates unique floating mats of seaweed in the tropical waters of the sargasso sea that serve as the habitats for many species.

Tiered like a terrestrial rainforest with a canopy and several layers below the kelp forests of the eastern pacific coast are dominated by two canopy forming brown macroalgae species giant kelp macrocystis pyrifera and bull kelp nereocystis leutkeana. Like trees in a forest these giant algae provide food and shelter for many organisms. Citizen scientists are mapping giant kelp with landsat a tangle of kelp on the shores of the falkland islands. Kelp forests occur worldwide throughout temperate and polar coastal oceans.

Jarrett byrnes an assistant professor at the university of massachusetts boston is giving a talk about the huge citizen science kelp mapping endeavor called floating forests. Kelp forests a description. Dec 14 2017 today at agu17 dr.