Mexico-California Bi-National Initiative of Kelp Forest Ecosystems and Fisheries (original) (raw)
Related papers
University of California Mexico Initiative, 2017
The coastal forests formed by the giant kelp Macrocystis pyrifera are iconic and primary habitats distributed discontinuously from central Baja California (Mexico) to central California (USA). The giant kelp creates a biogenic habitat that supports high levels of species diversity and productivity in the region, acting as a refuge, nursery and food provider for many species. Kelp forests provides ecosystem services to humans worth billions of dollars globally. These services include food and natural products, chemical products, recreational and commercial fisheries, ecotourism opportunities, cultural value, and nutrient cycling. Coastal human populations rely on many of these ecosystem services. Beyond its economic benefits, giant kelp, together with the species that inhabit the kelp forests, play a significant role in climate control by regulating carbon flows, acting as a reserve and sink for carbon dioxide on living tissue, and facilitating the burial of carbon in sea bed sediments. Giant kelp and the biological communities that it supports will likely react to climatic and non-climatic changes in complex and unexpected ways. In California and Baja California, giant kelp forests can be expected to contract in their southern extent due to warming waters, reductions in nutrient availability, increasing wave disturbance and grazing by warm-water herbivores. In ecosystems shared between nations, such as kelp forest, the actions taken by one nation invariably affect the other. Effective management of such systems therefore requires strong cooperation.
Title: Mexico-California Bi-National Initiative of Kelp Forest Ecosystems and Fisheries
2017
The coastal forests formed by the giant kelp Macrocystis pyrifera are iconic and primary habitats distributed discontinuously from central Baja California (Mexico) to central California (USA). The giant kelp creates a biogenic habitat that supports high levels of species diversity and productivity in the region, acting as a refuge, nursery and food provider for many species. Kelp forests provides ecosystem services to humans worth billions of dollars globally. These services include food and natural products, chemical products, recreational and commercial fisheries, ecotourism opportunities, cultural value, and nutrient cycling. Coastal human populations rely on many of these ecosystem services. Beyond its economic benefits, giant kelp, together with the species that inhabit the kelp forests, play a significant role in climate control by regulating carbon flows, acting as a reserve and sink for carbon dioxide on living tissue, and facilitating the burial of carbon in sea bed sediments. Giant kelp and the biological communities that it supports will likely react to climatic and non-climatic changes in complex and unexpected ways. In California and Baja California, giant kelp forests can be expected to contract in their southern extent due to warming waters, reductions in nutrient availability, increasing wave disturbance and grazing by warm-water herbivores. In ecosystems shared between nations, such as kelp forest, the actions taken by one nation invariably affect the other. Effective management of such systems therefore requires strong cooperation
Southward decrease in the protection of persistent giant kelp forests in the northeast Pacific
Communications Earth & Environment, 2021
Kelp forests are globally important and highly productive ecosystems, yet their persistence and protection in the face of climate change and human activity are poorly known. Here, we present a 35-year time series of high-resolution satellite imagery that maps the distribution and persistence of giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) forests along ten degrees of latitude in the Northeast Pacific Ocean. We find that although 7.7% of giant kelp is protected by marine reserves, when accounting for persistence only 4% of kelp is present and protected. Protection of giant kelp decreases southerly from 20.9% in Central California, USA, to less than 1% in Baja California, Mexico, which likely exacerbates kelp vulnerability to marine heatwaves in Baja California. We suggest that a two-fold increase in the area of kelp protected by marine reserves is needed to fully protect persistent kelp forests and that conservation of climate-refugia in Baja California should be a priority.
2013
Kelp forests, with their complex structure and high diversity and productivity, are the most charismatic of nearshore, subtidal communities in temperate waters. Knowledge of their natural history and ecology, however, was meager until the 1950s when scuba gave investigators the freedom to work under water with relative ease. We highlight some of the knowledge gained using scuba in California kelp forests during the past 60 years. Underwater measurements have revealed that the net primary productivity of giant kelp (Macrocystis) and associated seaweeds is among the highest reported for any ecosystem. The producers are a suite of macroalgal canopy guilds that occur in patches and intercept light at various levels in the water column. The patches are dynamic, influenced within forests by biological interactions and among forests by disturbance. Invertebrates partition forest resources in a variety of ways, responding to variation in vegetation, predators, and competition. Grazing sea u...
Kelp forest ecosystems: biodiversity, stability, resilience and future
Environmental Conservation, 2002
Kelp forests are phyletically diverse, structurally complex and highly productive components of coldwater rocky marine coastlines. This paper reviews the conditions in which kelp forests develop globally and where, why and at what rate they become deforested. The ecology and long archaeological history of kelp forests are examined through case studies from southern California, the Aleutian Islands and the western North Atlantic, well-studied locations that represent the widest possible range in kelp forest biodiversity. Global distribution of kelp forests is physiologically constrained by light at high latitudes and by nutrients, warm temperatures and other macrophytes at low latitudes. Within mid-latitude belts (roughly 40-60°latitude in both hemispheres) well-developed kelp forests are most threatened by herbivory, usually from sea urchins. Overfishing and extirpation of highly valued vertebrate apex predators often triggered herbivore population increases, leading to widespread kelp deforestation. Such deforestations have the most profound and lasting impacts on species-depauperate systems, such as those in Alaska and the western North Atlantic. Globally urchininduced deforestation has been increasing over the past 2-3 decades. Continued fishing down of coastal food webs has resulted in shifting harvesting targets from apex predators to their invertebrate prey, including kelp-grazing herbivores. The recent global expansion of sea urchin harvesting has led to the widespread extirpation of this herbivore, and kelp forests have returned in some locations but, for the first time, these forests are devoid of vertebrate apex predators. In the western North Atlantic, large predatory crabs have recently filled this void and they have become the new apex predator in this system. Similar shifts from fish-to crab-dominance may have occurred in coastal zones of the United Kingdom and Japan, where large predatory finfish were extirpated long ago. Three North American case studies of kelp forests were examined to determine their long history with humans and project the status of future kelp forests to the year 2025. Fishing impacts on kelp forest systems have been both profound and much longer in duration than previously thought. Archaeological data suggest that coastal peoples exploited kelp forest organisms for thousands of years, occasionally resulting in localized losses of apex predators, outbreaks of sea urchin populations and probably small-scale deforestation. Over the past two centuries, commercial exploitation for export led to the extirpation of sea urchin predators, such as the sea otter in the North Pacific and predatory fishes like the cod in the North Atlantic. The largescale removal of predators for export markets increased sea urchin abundances and promoted the decline of kelp forests over vast areas. Despite southern California having one of the longest known associations with coastal kelp forests, widespread deforestation is rare. It is possible that functional redundancies among predators and herbivores make this most diverse system most stable. Such biodiverse kelp forests may also resist invasion from non-native species. In the species-depauperate western North Atlantic, introduced algal competitors carpet the benthos and threaten future kelp dominance. There, other non-native herbivores and predators have become established and dominant components of this system. Climate changes have had measurable impacts on kelp forest ecosystems and efforts to control the emission of greenhouse gasses should be a global priority. However, overfishing appears to be the greatest manageable threat to kelp forest ecosystems over the 2025 time horizon. Management should focus on minimizing fishing impacts and restoring populations of functionally important species in these systems.
Ecosystem Services Provided by Kelp Forests of the Humboldt Current System: A Comprehensive Review
Coasts
Marine ecosystems such as kelp are gaining recognition for providing ecosystem services (ES) along the coastal regions worldwide. Here, we synthesize information from the last four decades of research on the structure, functioning and threats of kelp forests, and the ES they provide in the Humboldt Current System (HCS) where information is scarce. The SALSA (Search, Appraisal, Synthesis and Analysis) framework was used for the literature survey and review. From 86 selected articles, only 4 directly discussed kelp ES in Chile. Supporting services-related articles were the most prevalent (n = 59), followed by provisioning (n = 19), regulating (n = 3) and cultural services (n = 1). ES-related research was mostly conducted in Chile (n = 77). Studies in Peru (n = 5), and in Chile and Peru at same time (n = 4) were scarce. Our search also showed that Lessonia trabeculata presented the highest number of associated taxa (n = 213), followed closely by M. pyrifera (n = 210). However, the numb...
Uneven protection of persistent giant kelp forest in the Northeast Pacific Ocean
2020
In most regions, the distribution of marine forests and the efficacy of their protection is unknown. We mapped the persistence of giant kelp forests across ten degrees of latitude in the Northeast Pacific Ocean and found that 7.7% of giant kelp is fully protected, with decreasing percentages from north to south. Sustainability goals should prioritize kelp mapping and monitoring, while protection and climate adaption targets should account for habitat dynamics.
Securing a Sustainable Future for Kelp Forests INTO THE BLUE
Into The Blue. Securing a Sustainable Future for Kelp Forests, 2023
Executive summary The term “kelp” is commonly used to refer to just over 100 species of large brown seaweeds that represent some of the most productive and diverse habitats on Earth. Kelp dominate approximately one quarter of the world’s coastlines, throughout polar and temperate regions, making them the most extensive marine vegetated ecosystem in the world. Kelp create complex and three-dimensional underwater forests rich in biodiversity. These unique coastal environments provide nursery habitat, shelter and foraging grounds for a wide range of marine organisms, including fish species of commercial importance, such as cod and pollack, and other species such as crab, octopus and lobster. Kelp forests can mitigate carbon emissions by storing carbon in standing biomass and by facilitating the long-term removal of carbon dioxide (CO2) through the export and burial of kelp carbon in the deep sea. Indigenous and coastal people have used kelp as medicine, food and material for generations, with kelp forming part of their identities and fostering the development of a sense of place and connectedness with nature.
Frontiers in Marine Science, 2019
In 2014-2016 the west coast of North America experienced a marine heatwave that was unprecedented in the historical record in terms of its duration and intensity. This event was expected to have a devastating impact on populations of giant kelp, an important coastal foundation species found in cool, nutrient rich waters. To evaluate this expectation, we used a time series of satellite imagery to examine giant kelp canopy biomass before, during, and after this heatwave across more than 7 degrees of latitude in southern and Baja California. We examined spatial patterns in resistance, i.e., the initial response of kelp, and resilience, i.e., the abundance of kelp 2 years after the heatwave ended. The heatwave had a large and immediate negative impact on giant kelp near its southern range limit in Baja. In contrast, the impacts of the heatwave were delayed throughout much of the central portion of our study area, while the northern portions of our study area exhibited high levels of resistance and resilience to the warming, despite large positive temperature anomalies. Giant kelp resistance throughout the entire region was most strongly correlated with the mean temperature of the warmest month of the heatwave, indicating that the loss of canopy was more sensitive to exceeding an absolute temperature threshold than to the magnitude of relative changes in temperature. Resilience was spatially variable and not significantly related to SST metrics or to resistance, indicating that local scale environmental and biotic processes played a larger role in determining the recovery of kelp from this extreme warming event. Our results highlight the resilient nature of giant kelp, but also point to absolute temperature thresholds that are associated with rapid loss of kelp forests.