Golden kelp YouTube clip transcript
Golden kelp YouTube Clip transcript
Kelps are generally found on rocky reefs
all the way from zero metres
and in some places down to 40-50 metres.
Unlike plants like seagrasses and trees on land
they don't have roots
they attach to the reef by a structure called a holdfast.
The Great Southern Reef is dominated by a canopy
of the small kelp Ecklonia radiata.
These kelp forests are some of the main primary producers
on temperate rocky reefs.
The common kelp
we also call it golden kelp
because it has this beautiful golden colour.
It's like what we call a foundation species
as they provide a habitat and food and shelter.
They are directly eaten by some species
so they are a source of food
but more importantly
they just provide a hiding place
a refuge, a place to mate
for hundreds of species.
This common kelp can be very very productive.
They fix carbon
out from the atmosphere,
they turn it into biomass,
and some of it will become sequestered.
But also there are no fires underwater
so it's a sink of carbon
that can be really important looking into the future.
Because even though trees
are also quite good at storing carbon,
as we've seen recently there's the big threat of fires
and that's only going to get greater in time.
So a lot of people are starting to look at
what is the potential for seaweeds
as a source of blue carbon?
And the science is still being worked through
but the sheer biomass of seaweeds in the world
makes us think that it could be
quite an important new source
of carbon that can be stored away
and help us to reduce
carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere.
Kelp forests are still doing pretty well
on the south coast in particular
there are some really nice pristine areas
that kelp forests are just doing fine
and I think it's really important
that we try and understand
what areas kelps are doing well in
and make sure we protect those areas
so we have kelp forests in the future.
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