How to Revive #California’s #Underwater Forests? Smash a Spiky, Hungry Foe.
A decade ago, the coastline north of San Francisco was the site of one of the most horrific deforestations ever recorded. More than 90% of the towering, majestic #kelpforests, across 200 miles of glittering shore, were dead and gone in years. Felled by freakishly warm #ocean water.
Cove by cove, #scientists, #divers and volunteers are hauling up #urchins to protect #kelp.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/climate/california-kelp-restoration.html
https://archive.ph/j7Qne
#KelpForests
The winner of the Underwater category
The egg case of a swell shark, tethered to the base of a giant kelp in Monterey Bay, #California. Researchers estimate that kelp forests in Monterey Bay have declined by more than 95% over the past 34 years. Swell sharks depend on kelp to lay their eggs, making them especially vulnerable to such losses.
Photograph: Ralph Pace/Wildlife Photographer of the Year/PA
#Kelpforests thrive in cold, nutrient-rich but climate change may make these wa warmer, more acidic, and oxygen-poor. Although kelps are hardy, these changes could make them more vulnerable to sta and algae-eaters. If kelp forests decline,
🌊 Proteggiamo i nostri mari per un mondo più verde! Le foreste di kelp prosperano grazie ai mari protetti. #SalviamoIMari #KelpForests
🔗 https://www.tomshw.it/scienze/aree-marine-protette-salvano-foreste-di-alghe-2025-08-22
#Oceans #Environment #KelpForests #Science #Starfish
https://www.livescience.com/animals/mystery-of-why-sea-stars-keep-turning-into-goo-finally-solved-and-its-not-what-scientists-thought?utm_term=426EE068-C1E7-49E7-A9E4-B51FA2238AB2&lrh=c62554ab5aadb4c99bcdbf979ee14f5f9395aed548609b422e9c0612c915ea95&utm_campaign=368B3745-DDE0-4A69-A2E8-62503D85375D&utm_medium=email&utm_content=2F5F801B-4F81-4C1D-A404-EC903CA0D79F&utm_source=SmartBrief
Discovery of #SeaStarWastingDisease cause sheds light on #kelp forest collapse and recovery https://phys.org/news/2025-07-discovery-sea-star-disease-kelp.html
"This comes more than a decade after the start of the marine epidemic that has killed billions of #SeaStars... The 4-year investigation eventually pinpointed the microbial culprit: a strain of the bacterium #Vibrio pectenicida... The loss of #SunflowerSeaStars, which support #KelpForests by feeding on kelp-eating #SeaUrchins, has had widespread and lasting effects on ecosystems"
Turf algae are poisoning kelp with toxic chemicals, locking Maine’s reefs into ecological collapse. It’s a war beneath the waves. #OceanWarming #KelpForests #MarineScience
How do you grow an endangered #starfish? Scientists are finding out https://phys.org/news/2024-12-endangered-starfish-scientists.html
"6 billion sunflower stars have died since 2013 due to sea star wasting disease. In their absence, purple urchins surged and chewed through entire undersea forests of #kelp, which are the foundation for a rich marine ecosystem. 96% of Northern #California's #KelpForests have vanished since then... But sunflower stars may once again dot the seabed, thanks to pioneering projects to grow them in labs"
Raising Hungry #SeaStar Babies Is No Cinch https://baynature.org/article/raising-hungry-sea-star-babies-is-no-cinch/
"Not so long ago, you could count on #pycnopodia to devour #PurpleUrchins and keep them from eating too much #kelp. A decade ago, the mysterious wasting disease began plaguing #SeaStars, right around the time that a #MarineHeatWave struck... In the absence of their primary predator, urchin populations exploded. Since then they have mown across the sea floor unhindered, leaving urchin barrens where #KelpForests once flourished."
Braving sharks and hordes of urchins, scientists are growing #kelp one forest at a time https://phys.org/news/2024-11-braving-sharks-hordes-urchins-scientists.html
"Thanks to Julieta Gomez and her team, kelp is rebounding for the first time in a decade along the #Sonoma coast. Their research is also providing insights that may be used to protect Central #California's #KelpForests south of San Francisco. These, like others, are threatened by #ClimateChange, which is contributing to extreme ocean temperatures seen in recent years"
#Biden-#Harris Administration, #NOAA designate 3rd-largest national marine sanctuary
https://www.noaa.gov/news-release/biden-harris-administration-noaa-designate-3rd-largest-national-marine-sanctuary
"#Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary (including #KelpForests, rocky #reefs, sandy beaches, underwater mountains and more than 200 #shipwrecks) to be managed with #tribal, #Indigenous community involvement... With this designation, the administration has now conserved more than 45 million acres of lands and waters."
Underwater gardeners work to restore majestic #kelp forests off Vancouver Island
https://www.timescolonist.com/local-news/underwater-gardeners-work-to-restore-majestic-kelp-forests-off-vancouver-island-9161135
"In the chilly waters of #VancouverIsland's #BarkleySound, gardeners are at work on the sea floor. They are #scientists from the #UniversityOfVictoria who are trying to regrow #KelpForests, a crucial part of the marine habitat, amid threats from #HeatWaves, #ClimateChange and voracious #SeaUrchins."
B.C.’s kelp forests are declining, but scientists are fighting back
https://www.cloverdalereporter.com/news/bcs-kelp-forests-are-declining-but-scientists-are-fighting-back-7430180
"#Restoration of #KelpForests lost to #ocean #HeatWaves and overgrazing #SeaUrchins is underway off #VancouverIsland’s coastlines with guidance from local researchers... To kickstart their restoration work, divers are planting two species of canopy-forming #kelp... The project team is also trying to understand why some pockets of kelp have survived, and if they can be transferred into other areas"
Sunflower stars, voracious predators, eat sea urchins. With the star population declining, urchins decimated the kelp forests along the #NorthPacific coast. This shift affected the deep intertidal ecosystem, making it difficult for juvenile fish to survive until they’re ready for the ocean, protecting bluffs from erosion, etc #pycnopodia #urchins #kelpforests The San Juan lab researchers found young stars could be more active in warmer waters and eat many more young urchins than adults.
Why some of #BritishColumbia’s #kelp forests are in more danger than others
https://theconversation.com/why-some-of-british-columbias-kelp-forests-are-in-more-danger-than-others-226774
Local and regional variation in kelp loss and stability across coastal British Columbia https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/meps/v733/p1-26/
"despite recent impacts of #ClimateChange, kelp forests in some areas have remained stable, offering hope for future #KelpForests and shedding light on the drivers of ecosystem resilience."
100 Years of California Kelp https://oceanbites.org/100-years-of-california-kelp/
#SeaOtter recovery buffers century-scale declines in #California #KelpForests https://journals.plos.org/climate/article?id=10.1371/journal.pclm.0000290
"These results were found to be primarily driven by southern sea #otter (Enhydra lutris nereis) presence. The greater their presence, the more resilient #kelp were to detrimental factors. Without #SeaOtters, marine heat waves and sedimentation of the #seafloor corresponded most to forest decline."
How #kelp forests persisted through the large 2014–2016 Pacific marine heat wave https://phys.org/news/2024-02-reveals-kelp-forests-persisted-large.html
Consequences of #KelpForest ecosystem shifts and predictors of persistence through multiple stressors https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2023.2749
"denser and more sheltered #KelpForests can withstand serious stressors amid #warming #ocean temperatures"
@shonin. We need more kelp forests. That will help the planet. #kelpforests, #kelpforest
Pacific #KelpForests are way older than we thought
https://www.futurity.org/pacific-kelp-forests-age-3167012/
Early #Oligocene kelp holdfasts and stepwise #evolution of the kelp ecosystem in the North Pacific https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2317054121
"#kelp flourished off the US Northwest Coast more than 32 million years ago, long before the appearance of modern groups of marine #mammals, #SeaUrchins, #birds, and #bivalves that today call the forests home."
Kelp forests are beautiful and biodiverse and very valuable for humanity. A new study has estimated that they provide services worth more than $1 trillion annually. These include food, oxygen, carbon capture, nutrient cycling, and coastal protection.
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