The Biology and Ecology of Giant Kelp Forests
David R. Schiel and Michael S. Foster
Abstract
The largest seaweed, giant kelp (Macrocystis) is the fastest growing and most prolific of all plants found on earth. Growing from the seafloor and extending along the ocean surface in lush canopies, giant kelp provides an extensive vertical habitat in a largely two-dimensional seascape. It is the foundation for one of the most species-rich, productive, and widely distributed ecological communities in the world. This review takes the reader from Darwin's early observations to contemporary research, providing a historical perspective for the modern understanding of giant kelp evolution, biogeogr ... More
The largest seaweed, giant kelp (Macrocystis) is the fastest growing and most prolific of all plants found on earth. Growing from the seafloor and extending along the ocean surface in lush canopies, giant kelp provides an extensive vertical habitat in a largely two-dimensional seascape. It is the foundation for one of the most species-rich, productive, and widely distributed ecological communities in the world. This review takes the reader from Darwin's early observations to contemporary research, providing a historical perspective for the modern understanding of giant kelp evolution, biogeography, biology, and physiology. The chapters furnish a discussion of kelp species and forest ecology worldwide, with considerations of human uses and abuses, management and conservation, and the current and likely future impacts of global change.
Keywords:
Macrocystis,
kelp,
seaweed,
seafloor,
seascape,
kelp evolution,
biogeography,
kelp species,
kelp conservation
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2015 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780520278868 |
| Published to California Scholarship Online: January 2016 |
DOI:10.1525/california/9780520278868.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
David R. Schiel, author
University of Canterbury, New Zealand
Michael S. Foster, author
San Jose State University
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