Effect of a kelp forest on coastal currents
Abstract
Ocean currents supply a kelp ecosystem with nutrients, planktonic food, and larvae. We have found that these currents in a kelp forest (Macrocystis pyrifera) are slower than currents outside. At the Pt. Loma, San Diego, California, site that we studied, current velocities were about a third of those outside. A comparison of frequency spectra shows that semi-diurnal frequencies are preferentially passed by the kelp. This effect of a kelp forest on the currents that nurture it is similar to that of a terrestrial forest on local winds.
- Publication:
-
Continental Shelf Research
- Pub Date:
- May 1983
- DOI:
- 10.1016/0278-4343(83)90023-7
- Bibcode:
- 1983CSR.....2...75J