The dynamics of kelp forests in the North-East Atlantic will go through a marked change as our oceans keep on warming and warm-water kelp species will also become more abundant, according to a new research by the University of Plymouth and Marine Biological Association of the UK (MBA).
The research team studied kelp forests off of the south west coast of the United Kingdom. The warm water kelp species Laminaria ochroleuca has become significantly in recent years on the coast, probably because of a cold-water species that is not very tolerant to the warming seas. According to researchers, this is a direct consequence of climate change and could change the way how species that depend on kelp forests would function in the future.
The research was published recently in the Journal of Ecology and reports that this news is however not bad at all, with some of the functions like carbon absorption or food provisioning being maintained or even enhanced. There is also a chance that this important habitat will likely survive in the future, unlike in countries like Japan, Canada and Australia- where kelp forests have started to disappear completely.
Albert Pessarrodona, lead author of the study, now working with the University of Western Australia, said, “As the ocean warms, species are moving up slopes and towards the poles in order to remain within their preferred environmental conditions. Species with warm affinities are migrating to many habitats previously dominated by cold-water ones, transforming ecosystems as we know them. These so-called novel ecosystems feature a mix of warm and cold-affinity species, but we don’t know whether they can retain desirable ecological processes and functions on which human wellbeing relies.”
Dr Dan Smale, an MBA Research Fellow, added, “The warm-water kelp Laminaria ochroleuca was actually first detected in the UK in the late 1940s, but is now a common sight along the southwest coast. It is predicted to continue expanding northwards in response to climate change, occupying most of the UK and large sections of the wider North-East Atlantic coastline by the end of the century.”
Kelp forests are important for several marine organisms since they provide them with a place to live, food and shelter from dangerous predators, while they keep fixing large amounts of CO2 and reduce the storm and wave energy hitting the coastline.