Voracious Purple Sea Urchins Are Ravaging Kelp Forests on the West Coast
by Brigit Katz/Smithsonian.com
The coastal waters of northern California were once home to undulating forests of bull kelp, a type of seaweed that offers shelter to a host of sea creatures. But a series of adverse ecological events have jolted the region’s marine ecosystem out of whack. Populations of purple sea urchins, a voracious, kelp-eating species, have exploded. And now, according to a new study in Scientific Reports, more than 90 percent of bull kelp canopy along 217 miles of California’s coast is gone.
The first sign of trouble arose in 2013, when sea stars in the area were hit with a mysterious disease and began “wast[ing] to nothing,” as the University of California, Davis puts it in a statement. Sea stars play an important role in their ecosystem, preying on native purple urchins (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) and keeping their numbers in check. With mass numbers of sea stars dead, the urchins proliferated, chomping their way through the kelp forests.
Researchers aren’t sure where the sea stars’ illness came from, reports Discover’s Leslie Nemo. But they believe climate change was responsible for what happened in 2014 when a record-breaking marine heatwave that fueled the bull kelp’s decline.
Carol graduated from Riverside White Cross School of Nursing in Columbus, Ohio and received her diploma as a registered nurse. She attended Bowling Green State University where she received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History and Literature. She attended the University of Toledo, College of Nursing, and received a Master’s of Nursing Science Degree as an Educator.
She has traveled extensively, is a photographer, and writes on medical issues. Carol has three children RJ, Katherine, and Stephen – one daughter-in-law; Katie – two granddaughters; Isabella Marianna and Zoe Olivia – and one grandson, Alexander Paul. She also shares her life with her husband Gordon Duff, many cats, and two rescues.
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‘But they believe climate change was responsible’ This is endless mantra, always ‘climate change was responsible’ without any other possible reason. These things have been around for millions of years and thousands of heatwaves in past epochs, NO, its is nothing to do with climate. Science, do your research properly instead of coping out on the fake climate mantra.
Sounds like you don’t want to pay your Carbon tax to the IMF to save the planet. Well you’re not going to be invited to the drum circle at 2:00pm if you keep up this protesting.
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