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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