Eco Magazine features research on kelp forest collapse impact on food web
Eco Magazine featured a new study from researchers with Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences and the University of Maine which revealed that food web and energy dynamics have changed in the Gulf of Maine following the collapse of kelp forest and subsequent rise in carpet-like turf algae. “People have studied the importance of kelp forests for habitat and food around the world, but we never knew that providing energy was such a critical function of kelp forests in the Gulf of Maine,” said the study’s lead author, Dara Yiu, a University of Maine Ph.D. candidate based at Bigelow Laboratory. “So, when we lose kelp forests, it’s fundamentally changing the energy sources that are supporting the food web.”