Southern California’s kelp forests are considered one of the most productive and diverse ecosystems in the world. However, a new study shows that current kelp beds have extensively lessened compared over the years.
A research conducted by Rick Grosberg, a professor at the Center for Population and Biology and the Department of Evolution and Ecology in UC Davis, with Brian Kinlan, from UC Santa Barbara, and Michael Graham, from the Moss Landing Marine Laboratory, found that kelp forests flourished since the glaciation era from 20,000 to 7,500 years ago, then declined by about 70%.
Kelp forests surrounding offshore islands increased 13,500 years ago as the rise of sea levels shaped new habitats for their growth. However, these forests showed rapid decline over the previous years.
This shift, from an island-based system to a mainland-dominated one, coincided with some events accounted in archaeological records, implying that climate-triggered shifts of kelp ecosystems affected human populations that were dependent on these sources.
“Kelp is interesting because it disperses only over short distances”, Grosberg said. “Populations can become genetically isolated from one another even if they are quite close together”.
“We wanted to know how connected the coastal kelp populations were since the last glacial maximum”, he explained.
Scientists utilised depth charts of southern California’s shoreline and some sediment core information on previous nutrient availability to reconstruct possible kelp habitats as sea levels altered over the last 20,000 years.
A research conducted by Rick Grosberg, a professor at the Center for Population and Biology and the Department of Evolution and Ecology in UC Davis, with Brian Kinlan, from UC Santa Barbara, and Michael Graham, from the Moss Landing Marine Laboratory, found that kelp forests flourished since the glaciation era from 20,000 to 7,500 years ago, then declined by about 70%.
Kelp forests surrounding offshore islands increased 13,500 years ago as the rise of sea levels shaped new habitats for their growth. However, these forests showed rapid decline over the previous years.
This shift, from an island-based system to a mainland-dominated one, coincided with some events accounted in archaeological records, implying that climate-triggered shifts of kelp ecosystems affected human populations that were dependent on these sources.
“Kelp is interesting because it disperses only over short distances”, Grosberg said. “Populations can become genetically isolated from one another even if they are quite close together”.
“We wanted to know how connected the coastal kelp populations were since the last glacial maximum”, he explained.
Scientists utilised depth charts of southern California’s shoreline and some sediment core information on previous nutrient availability to reconstruct possible kelp habitats as sea levels altered over the last 20,000 years.
RSS Feed