Kelp Forest Hydrodynamics
Biological and physical coupling within giant kelp forests
Currents impinging on kelp forests deliver nutrients, plankton and organic carbon that can substantially subsidize the kelp forest community. The kelp forest in turn modifies the flow around and within its boundaries, and forest producers and consumers alter the flux of nutrients and particulates within the forest. With collaborative funding from the University of California’s Coastal Environmental Quality Initiative we are investigating linkages between hydrodynamics and kelp forest function. These studies specifically focus on determining: (1) the degree to which impinging flows enter the forest as opposed to being diverted around it, (2) rates of consumption and production of waterborne subsidies (i.e., nutrients, POM, DOM) by kelp forests, (3) the interaction of nutrients, light, and flow in determining kelp growth, and (4) the implications of forest-flow interactions for forest-dwelling suspension feeding invertebrates. Our extensive measurements of flow and kelp forest community structure, geochemical and biochemical analyses, and experimental manipulations exploit a breadth of expertise in hydrodynamics, marine ecology, biological oceanography, and algal physiology.