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| S P E C I A L | El Niño Returns |
Researchers look for effects of El Niño on kelp
Forests of giant kelp may support millions of individual organisms By Environmental News Network staff
(ENN) -- As houses slid down California cliffs this winter as a result of El Niño's battering winds and rain, marine scientists were busy studying the effects of El Nino on the ocean floor.
Jim Estes, a biologist at the University of California at Santa Cruz, has received a grant from the National Science Foundation to study populations of giant kelp to determine what impact El Niño may be having.
Giant kelp, formally known as Macrocystis pyriferais, is one of the fastest-growing plants in the world -- it can grow up to 18 inches a day. This fast-growing algae attaches to rocks on the ocean floor by means of a large holdfast -- the plant's base.
There are reports of up to 150 different species living in the holdfast alone; a second report found 178 different species. Long, sinuous stipes -- stems -- are supported by gas-filled bladders at the base of leaflike blades on plants that can grow to 200 feet long.
The importance of the giant kelp forests to the submarine ecosystem can not be underestimated. Forests of giant kelp may support millions of individual organisms and more than 1,000 species of marine plants and animals.
Common fish of the kelp forest include garibaldi, opal eye, kelp bass, California sheepshead, sea perch, rockfish senorita fish and blacksmith, in addition to countless invertebrates such as sponge, kelp crab, spiny lobster, octopus and squid, sea stars and sea urchins.
Populations of Macrocystis in the North Pacific extend from Alaska to localities of cool, upwelled water in Baja California. Scientists have been monitoring the distribution of kelp for several years. The forests of giant kelp depend on cool, nutrient-rich water for survival and growth.
Estes believes that the large ocean waves and increased water temperatures associated with El Niño have created major changes in the structure of the extensive giant kelp plant and animal community. Nutrient depletion related to the influx of warm water has resulted in massive declines in kelp beds.
In addition to the abundance and diversity of life associated with kelp forests, kelp is actually a harvestable crop; special vessels cruise over the beds, harvesting the upper four feet of the plant. Algin -- a substance extracted from kelp -- is an emulsifier added to ice cream, salad dressing, toothpaste, cleansers and hundreds of other products. Dense expanses of kelp protect open coastlines by slowing large ocean swells, and as a recreational resource, divers delight in the wonders of a kelp forest.
To determine the effects of El Niño, Estes and his diver colleagues surveyed 90 sites in the late summer of 1997; they planned to resurvey in March and April this year, but the weather was too stormy for diving. The sites will be resurveyed in June and July. The grant from the National Science Foundation will enable Estes to monitor giant kelp for the next three years, looking at the long-term effects of this year's El Niño.
Copyright 1998, Environmental News Network, All Rights Reserved
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