Disturbance has a greater effect on giant kelp productivity than does resource availability

by Sonia Fernandez, UC Santa Barbara
July 13, 2026

Marine scientists at UC Santa Barbara have found that disturbances to giant kelp forests have a major influence on their net primary productivity (NPP) — an indicator of an ecosystem’s health and its ability to support its community — even more so than the availability of the resources it needs to grow. Taking data from decades of monthly measurements in the kelp forests of the campus’s National Science Foundation-supported Santa Barbara Coastal Long Term Ecological Research (SBC LTER) site, the researchers uncovered the direct, indirect and fascinating effects of disturbance on one of the world’s most productive ecosystems.

“We found that giant kelp productivity is controlled less by how fast kelp grows and more by how much kelp survives disturbance,” said graduate student researcher Billie Beckley, the lead author of a paper published in the journal Ecology. The findings, from research sponsored by NSF, highlight the understudied role of disturbance in controlling ecosystem productivity, and may provide insight for conservation and restoration in ecosystems that are experiencing increased disturbance due to changes in land use and climate.

Keep reading: https://news.ucsb.edu/2026/022697/disturbance-has-greater-effect-giant-kelp-productivity-does-resource-availability

Read the Ecology paper: https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecy.70393