Imagine you are an animal living in an underwater kelp forest. Beautiful and biologically complex, kelp plants grow and create underwater kelp forests in areas like the rocky coastlines of the world’s oceans. They are a vital part of the kelp forest ecosystem which provides food and shelter to diverse ocean species that live among them as well as provide a source of economic stability and recreation for fisherman and divers everywhere.

Kelp plants are a type of brown algae that grow to depths of 18 to 90 feet (6 to 30 meters). The plant holds on to the rocky ocean bottom with structures called holdfasts. As the kelp plant is held in place, long streamers grow up toward the surface and gas bladders help the leaf to stay upright. Because of this structure, the kelp forest ecosystem provides multiple living spaces for the organisms that inhabit it. Ocean organisms can live up in the canopy, between the stipes, or in the holdfast. The constant source of abundant food in this ecosystem allows the animals to have their own niche in the food web providing producers, consumers, and decomposers with plenty of opportunity to feed.

All organisms that live in kelp forests need to be able to find food, reproduce, avoid being eaten, and adjust to the changing physical environment. Today one of the main concerns regarding kelp forests is maintaining an ecosystem that is balanced. The natural balance can be thrown off for reasons like sewage dumping into the ocean from large cities or over-harvesting of kelp plants. When this happens, one type of creature becomes too plentiful, throwing off the natural balance of this delicate food web. From sea otters, sea urchins, and abalone to crabs, crustations, and bacteria, studying kelp forest organisms will help you to understand the role of biotic and abiotic factors that affect the interaction of the organisms in the kelp forest community.

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