Marine foundation species like giant kelp, seagrass, and corals, harbor great reservoirs of biodiversity in coastal oceans. Now the Santa Barbara Channel MBON team, supported in part by NOAA, has shown the extent to which one of these species, giant kelp, supports coastal ecosystems. MBON work has revealed that kelp positively affects reef biodiversity, especially predators and sessile invertebrates that form the base of the food web. Stability of giant kelp forests, moreover, stabilize the community, dampening fluctuations in populations of many other species. Long-term kelp manipulation experiments show that when giant kelp is frequently disturbed, species that depend on it decline. Finally, MBON work is making it possible to track fluctuations in kelp using Landsat satellite imagery, and now drones and hyperspectral and multispectral sensors are being used to map kelp’s health as climate changes and nutrient regimes shift. An important MBON goal is to extend our monitoring of key species like foundation species across the continuity of space to better understand how coastal impacts affect biodiversity.
