What keeps ocean kelp forest ecosystems stable?

By National Science Foundation
5/14/2019

An ecosystem is made up of species, populations, communities, and a network of communities across a region.

A team led by NSF-funded researchers at the University of California-Santa Barbara (UCSB) has published a paper in the journal Ecology showing how these different levels combine to form an ecosystem. The research was conducted in an underwater giant kelp forest off Santa Barbara.

“There’s more stability from having more species than from having more patches [locations] where those species live,” said UCSB ecologist and paper co-author Bob Miller.

In other words, biodiversity is the key.

Read more here: https://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=298540&WT.mc_id=USNSF_1