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California’s Kelp Forests

A recent study conducted in 2022 found that kelp forest degradation from warming ocean temperatures in turn causes massive range shifts in species are not able to adapt quickly enough to survive (Climate Change 2022). This was most notably seen in 2014-2015 when an unusually large mass of warm ocean water devastated the Southern California coast. Even prior to that warming event, between 1950-1970 a study found that kelp loss was primarily caused by large increases in contaminated sewage discharge, mass coastal development, and a recent El Nino event (Foster and Schiel 2010). In addition to climate change, one of the biggest threats to kelp forest ecosystems is the overfishing of higher trophic level marine predators which can shift an entire area into an urchin barren (Sala et al. 1998). Overfishing can actually increase an ecosystem's sensitivity to climate change. By the taking of larger marine predators, this causes a chain reaction in the food web, compromising the resilience of the ecosystem to climate change (Free at al., 2019). In addition, a study recently conducted in Southern California found that drastically reducing the amount of urchins in a kelp forest ecosystem will significantly increase the health of the kelp forest (Williams et al. 2021). Restoring California kelp forests currently involves the removal of sea urchins by fishermen, scuba divers, and sea otters in more northern areas (Foster, 2013).