By Paul Tullis, March 21, 2024
Marine Biologist Jannes Landschoff swims through the kelp forest in False Bay, South Africa. (Photo by Adriane Ohanesian)
Kelp forests cover six to seven million square kilometers of ocean—an area greater than the Amazon rainforest’s. While the Amazon is branded as “the lungs of the Earth” for its extensive oxygen production, it’s actually marine algae, including kelp, that have been responsible for the preponderance of oxygen in the atmosphere. Kelp forests’ role as biodiversity hotspots, which they also share with the Amazon and other jungles worldwide, make them basically the coral reefs of cold water, except that kelp is even more extensive.
Around the world, these forests of kelp—crucial to biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and coastal protection—are under threat from climate change, pollution, and human development. Will they disappear before we fully understand their massive environmental benefits?
Get the whole story: https://thebulletin.org/2024/03/the-underwater-amazon
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