Kelp Forests - Scottish Natural Heritage

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<strong>Kelp</strong> productivity After kelp forests have been hit by winter storms, the adjacent shore is covered by a brown carpet of glistening plants that have been ripped off the sea bed by the force of the waves. All this material eventually rots and enters the marine food web. <strong>Kelp</strong>s contribute organic material to the food web in other ways. Waves continually erode the tips of kelp blades, releasing flakes of plant matter. Every spring each cuvie plant sheds its blade from the previous year; an enormous input of detritus into the marine ecosystem, when the size of kelp forests is taken into account. In addition to the huge volume of rotting foliage produced by kelp forests, individual plants secrete as much as 40% of their net organic production directly into the sea. The productivity of kelp forests has been compared to the level of productivity found in a wheat field on land. Mounds of cast kelp (tangle) on a sandy shore on Sanday, Orkney This huge amount of organic material is utilised by the animals of the kelp forest and, due to the action of waves and currents, by animals in other parts of the sea. Some animals, such as urchins, graze directly on kelp fragments. Bacteria absorb dissolved organic matter and in turn are eaten by filter-feeding invertebrates. Single-celled animals, small crustaceans, worms and molluscs trap minute particles of detritus. These, in turn, fall prey to larger animals such as fish and starfish. The production of organic matter by kelp plants provides much of the fuel that drives the machinery of the inshore food web. Without the food source provided by kelp detritus and dissolved organic matter, inshore coastal waters would contain far fewer animals.
Lumpsucker amongst cuvie stipes festooned in red seaweeds
Page 1 and 2: Kelp Forests: SCOTLAND’S LIVING L
Page 3 and 4: Other books in the series: Coasts M
Page 5 and 6: First published in 1999 by Scottish
Page 7 and 8: Sea urchins grazing kelp frond
Page 9 and 10: Kelp holdfast and stipe with feathe
Page 11 and 12: Kelps occur at and below low-tide l
Page 13 and 14: Dense cuvie forest
Page 15 and 16: A second important function of both
Page 17 and 18: Scottish kelp plants Five kelp spec
Page 19 and 20: Light - the critical factor Light i
Page 21 and 22: Oarweed forests Butterfish, fanworm
Page 23 and 24: Also present on the kelp blades is
Page 25 and 26: Cuvie forests At around 1m below lo
Page 27 and 28: Descending deeper into the sea, the
Page 29 and 30: 20 Beyond the kelp zone In the dark
Page 31: Seals above the kelp forest canopy
Page 35 and 36: In recent times several thousand to
Page 37 and 38: Afterword The brown, sunlight-dappl
Page 39: Also from SNH... Landscape Fashione

Kelp Forests - Scottish Natural Heritage

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