EARTH.COM - Kelp forests, once a towering and life-filled part of many temperate coastlines, are vanishing fast. In their place, low-growing mats of turf algae are taking over.
This shift isn’t just cosmetic. It’s causing steep losses in biodiversity, disrupting how energy and nutrients flow through reefs, and changing the chemistry of coastal waters in ways scientists are just beginning to understand.
Researchers from Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in Maine and the University of California, Riverside have now uncovered a surprising reason why kelp forests struggle to bounce back.