Arctic Kelps | Burning Issues | PDF Download

• Climate change is altering marine habitats such as kelp forests on a global scale.
• Kelps are disappearing due to warming temperatures.

Kelp Forests in Arctic

• Kelp is a type of large brown seaweed
• They occur on rocky coasts throughout the Arctic.
• Kelps function underwater in the same way trees do on land.
• The underwater forests that kelps create are used by many animals for shelter and food.
• More than 350 different species are there.
• Kelp forests also help protect coastlines

Importance of Kelps

• Kelps have adapted to the severe conditions.
• special strategies to survive freezing temperatures
• primary production of any natural ecosystem on Earth.

Threats

• Region is warming faster than the rest of the world
• In Canada, Alaska, Greenland, Norway and Siberia, permafrost soils that have been frozen for thousands of years are receding by half a metre per year.
• Crumbling Arctic coasts are dumping sediments into coastal waters
• The run-off from melting glaciers increase turbidity, which impacts young kelp.

Significance

• Kelp forests throughout the world play an important role in coastal economies
• The kelp aquaculture industry is growing at a rate of seven per cent per year.
• Kelp is a coveted food source in many countries.

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