Kelp in postglacial time

摘要

In a multifaceted exercise in palaeoecology, Michael Graham and colleagues have taken the subject underwater. Their study is an investigation of how the distribution and productivity of giant kelp have changed since the end of the Last Glacial Maximum, about 20,000 years ago, in one of its present-day strongholds, the Southern California Bight The significance of giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera; pictured) is that it is a foundation species - a dominant primary producer - that creates vast submarine forests in coastal areas of temperate regions. These kelp forests constitute ecosystems on which a multitude of other species depend.