Their model predicted cold-water kelp forests in locations that matched those already known, but it also churned out predictions, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of...

Because of these ecophysiological patterns, warm water temperatures and low nutrient concentrations were classically regarded as factors preventing the development of kelp forests in surface waters of tropical and subtropical regions (13, 14), with exceptions explained by the occurrence of cool oceanic currents flowing toward the equator and ...

This study shows that an increase in the proportion of warmwater species (“tropicalization”) as oceans warm is increasing fish herbivory in kelp forests, contributing to their decline and subsequent persistence in alternate “kelp-free” states. These tropical and subtropical herbivores are increasingly impacting temperate algal ...

We coupled ecophysiological data on kelp with a global surface-to-seafloor geospatial analysis of oceanographic data to test the alternative hypothesis that tropical kelp habitats are abundant and occupy expansive deep-water refugia at the base of the euphotic zone, where enough light and nutrients are available at the sea floor to sustain kelp ...

fish herbivory in kelp forests, contributing to their decline and subsequent persistence in alternate “kelp-free” states. These tropical and subtropical herbivores are increasingly impacting temperate algal communities worldwide, posing a significant threat to the long-term stability of these iconic ecosystems and the valuable services they ...