Kelp Forests - Scottish Natural Heritage

Why kelp forests
are important in
Scottish coastal
waters
Kelp stipe encrusted with sea mats
Lumpsucker on kelp with encrusting bryozoans and tubeworms
In many ways, kelp forests are the Scottish equivalent of
tropical coral reefs; both are found in shallow coastal waters,
and both perform similar functions in the marine environment.
Kelp forests and coral reefs provide three-dimensional ‘living
space’ for animals and plants. Small animals such as worms
and crustaceans live in gaps in the branching kelp holdfasts,
while the plant surfaces support a diverse range of colonial
animals (such as sea mats and sponges) and red seaweeds.
Animals and plants also live on the rock surface between kelp
plants, and small fish shelter from predators in the shade of
the blades.
A column of water in which a giant kelp plant grows can
support several thousand times as many animals as a column
of water stretching above a barren ocean floor. Although an
equivalent figure cannot be given for Scottish kelp plants, it is
known that large numbers of animals live in the forests in
comparison to areas devoid of kelp.
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