Natalie Hinderliter- Outside reading 3- The Underappreciated Benefits of Kelp Forests

 Many people familiar with the topics of ecology, biology or environmental science will be able to tell you about the carbon sink that forests create for the global ecosystem. However, there is another form of forest that has been severely underrepresented and underappreciated in conversations regarding conservation and restoration, kelp forests. According to Graham Readfearn's article for the Guardian, kelp forests fill similar roles to forests on land when it comes to absorbing carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus. Readfearn details a study completed by Dr. Eger of the University of South Wales. In the study, Dr. Eger and his colleagues completed a monetary evaluation of the benefits that kelp forests provide. The team determined that kelp forests globally absorb somewhere around 18 million tons of CO2 every year. Based on this fact and the countless ecological benefits that kelp provides to the ecosystems that it resides in, it is clear that more care must be taken to preserve kelp forests and to promote the restoration of previously destroyed kelp forests. A main focus of these efforts should be placed on restoration for areas where kelp forests have been depleted. According to Readfearn, there are some formerly lush kelp forests that have reported up to a 95% kelp loss. Some of these devastating losses of kelp can be attributed to invasive and harmful species such as certain species of sea urchins which reproduce quickly, and whose consumption of kelp can quickly destroy kelp forests. However, another factor of disappearing kelp forests is far more connected to human activities. Runoff from farming operations, which contains high levels of nitrogen, promotes the rapid growth of algae which in turn depletes waters of crucial oxygen when the algae inevitably dies off. The lowered oxygen levels resulting from this cycle create adverse growing conditions for kelp forests. The underappreciated and quickly vanishing kelp forests provide a cautionary tale for the effects of runoff as a result of farming and industry. While it is possible to economically estimate the value of kelp forests, it is not possible to quantify the benefits that they have on their ecosystems and the earth as a whole. 

Readfearn, Graham. “World's at-Risk Kelp Forests Provide Billions of Dollars in Benefits, Study Shows.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 18 Apr. 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/apr/19/worlds-at-risk-kelp-forests-provide-billions-of-dollars-in-benefits-study-shows.