OSU scientists release findings in global kelp ecosystem study

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon State University scientists discovered kelp ecosystems are surprisingly resilient to environmental impacts over the past 50 years. This is the first global assessment of marine kelp ecosystems.

“Kelp forests are cold-water, fast-growing species that can apparently withstand many types of environmental disturbances,” said Mark Novak, an assistant professor of integrative biology in the College of Science at Oregon State University, co-author of the study, and an organizer of the international group at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis that conducted this research.

Scientists discovered kelp forests have the ability to recover quickly from extreme damage, but they can still be overwhelmed by the combination of global and local pressures.

An international team of 37 scientists conducted the research and analyzed the kelp abundance in 34 regions of the planet that had been monitored over the past 50 years.

“The really surprising thing in this study was how much region-to-region variation we found, which is quite different from many other ecosystems. Thus, despite global threats like climate change and ocean acidification, the battle to protect our kelp forests of the future may best be fought locally – in the U.S., by states, counties, even individual cities and towns,” Novak said.

The forests are highly resilient, but they are often on the coastal front line in exposure to pollution, sedimentation, invasive species, and other hazards.

In the study, scientists concluded that in the studied kelp ecosystems, 38 percent are in decline; 27 percent are increasing; and 35 percent show no detectable change. On a global scale, they are declining at 1.8 percent per year.

The findings were published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.