All kelp research

Divers weighed a thriving kelp forest in a Japanese bay in 1980, found none at all by 2023, and a new study points to record heat and a much longer feeding season for hungry fish.

The first resurvey of northern Patagonia's kelp forests since 1972 found the kelp itself barely changed, and much of the life beneath it rearranged.

Researchers at UC Santa Barbara found that juvenile giant kelp handles a simulated heatwave far better if it has had a little warmth and plenty of nutrients in the nursery.

A new genetic study finds New Zealand's giant kelp is split into distinct local populations just tens of kilometres apart.

A year of underwater surveys and DNA sampling at two Alaska kelp farms found they left the local sea life much as they found it.

A University of Victoria team shows that satellite radar can map floating kelp canopy on British Columbia's perpetually cloudy coast just as well as optical imagery, without waiting for clear skies.

A new PNAS study finds that as Maine's kelp forests give way to turf algae, the reef's microbial community shifts dramatically, with possible consequences for nutrient cycling and carbon storage.

A genetic survey of eleven sites along Maine's coast finds sugar kelp splits into four distinct populations, a finding that could reshape how restoration and aquaculture programs choose which kelp to plant where.

A global synthesis finds that climate change is stripping away carbon-storing kelp forests far faster than restoration projects can ever hope to replace them.

A seven-site study across Chile and Tasmania found giant kelp forests can sharply raise local pH and oxygen during upwelling, but the effect disappears at some sites entirely.

New estimates place the value of carbon storage, coastal protection and habitat that kelp forests provide in the hundreds of billions of dollars a year, and researchers are still refining the figures.

A national-scale Canadian assessment estimates kelp forests store 0.6 to 2.8 million tonnes of carbon, with huge uncertainty still built in.

A year-long deep-sea camera study found kelp biomass decomposes far faster than hoped, over 90% gone within about 100 days.

Kelp forests may provide around $500 billion a year in fisheries, nutrient cycling and carbon value, with an estimated 740 million people living within reach of one.

A wave-attenuation model of farmed kelp canopies found a full-grown canopy can dissipate over 90% of wave energy in shallow water, but the effect drops off fast with depth and growth stage.

Measurements inside an Australian kelp forest found meaningfully higher pH and oxygen levels than in nearby urchin barrens.