Kelp Content

The Choreography Connecting Kelp Forests to the Beach

Katherine E Kerlin — January 03, 2024 - 12:50pm

A �� study uncovers a symphony of synchrony between kelp forests and the beach food web.

All West Coast Abalones at Risk of Extinction on the IUCN Red List

Katherine E Kerlin — December 12, 2022 - 9:00am

All West Coast abalones in the U.S. are now considered at risk of extinction on the IUCN Red List. �� led the West Coast abalone population assessments.

From Overpopulation to Hors d’oeuvres

Kelley Chu — December 08, 2019 - 5:27pm

Wildlife conservation sometimes involves eating fewer animal products. But to save California’s kelp forest, a new dish is being added to the menu: purple sea urchin.

A variety of factors, such as a decline of natural predators and warming waters, have led to an overpopulation of purple urchin, with millions of them now carpeting the seafloor. They can eat sponge and even rock, but kelp populations have been particularly decimated.

How Giant Kelp May Respond to Climate Change

Katherine E Kerlin — November 13, 2019 - 3:04pm

When a marine heat wave hit California’s coast in 2014, it brought ocean temperatures that were high for Northern California but fairly normal for a Southern California summer. Much of the giant kelp in the north died in the heat wave, while southern populations survived.

California’s Crashing Kelp Forest

Katherine E Kerlin — October 21, 2019 - 2:00am

First the sea stars wasted to nothing. Then the purple urchins took over, eating and eating until the bull kelp forests were gone. The red abalone starved. Their fishery closed. Red sea urchins starved. Their fishery collapsed. And the ocean kept warming.

It sounds like an ecological horror movie, but this scenario actually happened between 2013 and 2017. Its lasting impacts continue to affect Northern California’s coast today, with another marine heat wave forecast for this winter.