https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Kelp species such as Saccharina japonica and Undaria pinnatifida serve as critical global economic resources. However, global warming, marked by rising seawater temperatures, is severely impacting kelp cultivation. This reality has made the development of new, heat-resistant kelp cultivars with broader adaptability an urgent priority to mitigate climate-related threats. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-resistant-kelp-cultivars-warmer-seas.html Biotechnology Wed, 19 Nov 2025 11:27:03 EST news682774021 New environmental DNA (eDNA) tools can accurately and inexpensively quantify kelp-derived biomass in sediments below commercial kelp farms, according to research published in PLOS One. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-edna-kelp-derived-carbon-ocean.html Ecology Thu, 18 Sep 2025 10:33:37 EDT news677410411 The kelp forest is ephemeral, yet foundational. Fronds of this fast-growing giant seaweed come and go with the seasons, storms and waves, supporting communities of fish, invertebrates and even mammals wherever they emerge. As dynamic as they are in the ocean, kelp forests are also essential for its nearby shoreline communities, as fronds of this seaweed wash up on the beach, providing sustenance for invertebrates and serving as the foundation of beach food webs. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-kelp-forests-local-beach-ecosystems.html Ecology Mon, 15 Sep 2025 14:21:03 EDT news677164861 A pioneering study led by researchers from the Interdisciplinary Center of Marine and Environmental Research (CIIMAR) and the Marine and Environmental Sciences Center (MARE) identifies seaweed forests on the northern coast of Portugal as strategic allies in carbon capture and storage. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-marine-forests-northern-portugal-kelp.html Earth Sciences Mon, 15 Sep 2025 11:18:04 EDT news677153881 New research finds that Marine Protected Areas can boost the recovery of globally important kelp forests following marine heat waves. The findings are published in the Journal of Applied Ecology. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-kelp-forests-marine-areas-resilient.html Plants & Animals Tue, 19 Aug 2025 00:10:05 EDT news674731561 Marine life may be more resilient to climate stress than previously thought, thanks to shifting oxygen levels in coastal waters. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-shifting-oxyscape-key-tackling-deoxygenation.html Ecology Mon, 28 Jul 2025 12:09:04 EDT news672923341 Sea urchins have no brains or hearts. But put them in the proximity of the unmistakable sunflower sea star, and somewhere in their pin cushion-like body, they sense trouble. That's the main finding of a new study by ecologists and undergraduates at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who wanted to see if this particular type of sea star would deter urchins from eating kelp. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-students-sunflower-sea-stars-kelp.html Plants & Animals Mon, 28 Jul 2025 09:49:04 EDT news672914941 Killer whales have been seen detaching lengths of seaweed and using them to massage each other—the first evidence of tool-making by marine mammals. The whales bite off the end of a kelp stalk, position it between themselves and a partner, and roll the kelp between their bodies for prolonged periods. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-killer-whales-seaweed-tools.html Plants & Animals Mon, 23 Jun 2025 11:00:05 EDT news669627421 Scientists warn that the future of our oceans and climate goals depends on reconnecting the ecological threads that hold coastal habitats together. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-seascapes-urgent-habitat-reconnection-climate.html Ecology Fri, 13 Jun 2025 10:17:04 EDT news669028621 While kelp forests persist along northern Maine's rocky coast, kelp abundance has declined by as much as 80% on the southern coast in recent decades. In its stead, carpet-like turf algae have moved in. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-kelp-forest-collapse-food-web.html Plants & Animals Fri, 06 Jun 2025 14:00:11 EDT news668326321 As the ocean warms across its temperate regions, kelp forests are collapsing and turf algae species are taking over. This shift from dense canopies of tall kelp to low-lying mats of turf algae is driving biodiversity loss and altering the flow of energy and nutrients through reef ecosystems. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-competition-algae-gulf-maine.html Plants & Animals Thu, 22 May 2025 14:00:05 EDT news667122241 Marine heat waves that seemed extreme just a decade ago will become commonplace by the end of this century in waters favored by giant kelp, researchers have found. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-fishing-kelp-forests-marine.html Plants & Animals Tue, 22 Apr 2025 11:24:05 EDT news664539841 In an interdisciplinary cooperation project of the EU-projects FACE-IT, ECOTIP, and SEA-Quester, scientists investigated the consequences of climate change in the Arctic. They focused on a group of organisms that form the very basis of Arctic coastal ecosystems—brown macroalgae, known as kelps, which form dense and extensive underwater forests along rocky coastlines. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-unforeseen-effects-glaciers-arctic-coastal.html Ecology Fri, 07 Mar 2025 09:04:03 EST news660560641 Researchers at the University of Gothenburg have discovered that what was previously thought to be a unique seaweed species of bladderwrack for the Baltic Sea is in fact a giant clone of common bladderwrack, perhaps the world's largest clone overall. The discovery has implications for predicting the future of seaweed in a changing ocean. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-giant-clone-seaweed-baltic-sea.html Ecology Tue, 04 Mar 2025 11:40:04 EST news660310802 When sea otters were reintroduced along the coastlines of islands in Southern California and British Columbia, researchers saw kelp forests return to areas that were destroyed by sea urchins. But how slow or fast they grew back depended on the location—and until now, scientists didn't understand why. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-sea-otters-kelp-forests-recover.html Plants & Animals Mon, 03 Mar 2025 15:00:04 EST news660213841 Covering over 70% of Earth's surface, the oceans are home to countless life forms that maintain ecological balance and support human well-being. Among these, brown algae (Phaeophyceae) play a crucial role in sustaining coastal habitats, supporting marine biodiversity, and combating climate change through carbon capture. While they have long captured the interest of the scientific world, the genomic and evolutionary history of these organisms has remained largely unexplored. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-comprehensive-analysis-reveals-hidden-genomic.html Evolution Wed, 18 Dec 2024 16:45:03 EST news653762701 A 15-year period ending in 2020 that included a marine heat wave and a sea star wasting disease epidemic saw major changes in the groups of organisms that live along the rocky shores of the Pacific Northwest. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-rocky-shores-pacific-northwest-resilience.html Ecology Tue, 04 Jun 2024 12:47:03 EDT news636724021 A recent boom in the purple sea urchin population off the southern Oregon Coast appears to have had an indirect and negative impact on the gray whales that usually forage in the region, a new study shows. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-sea-urchins-kelp-forests-impacts.html Plants & Animals Tue, 21 May 2024 13:31:04 EDT news635517061 New research led by Monterey Bay Aquarium and the University of California, Santa Cruz, reveals that denser, and more sheltered, kelp forests can withstand serious stressors amid warming ocean temperatures. Published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the study also offers the first comprehensive assessment of how declines in kelp abundance affected marine algae, invertebrates, and fishes living in Monterey Bay. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-reveals-kelp-forests-persisted-large.html Plants & Animals Wed, 07 Feb 2024 12:45:53 EST news626532351 Over this wet summer, Melburnians and Sydneysiders have had to think twice about cooling off at their local beach. Heavy rainfall has swollen rivers and pumped pollutants, nutrients and murky fresh water far out to sea. Swimmers at Port Phillip Bay beaches are emerging coated in brown goo, while Sydney's seas were contaminated last week. https://phys.org/news/2024-01-floodwater-sea-meter-thick-layer.html Earth Sciences Tue, 23 Jan 2024 10:22:57 EST news625227774 There are fields of scientific research that involve neither vast cosmic phenomena nor extremely cute animals, but those are topics of high salience in Saturday Citations, and this week is no exception. And we'll probably play the odds and say next week won't be either. https://phys.org/news/2024-01-saturday-citations-cutest-conservationists-weird.html Other Sat, 20 Jan 2024 07:50:01 EST news624887136 Monterey Bay Aquarium researchers strengthen the link between sea otters and long-term health of California kelp forests in a new study released today. The paper, published in the journal PLOS Climate, finds that sea otter population growth during the last century enhanced kelp forest resilience in the state. https://phys.org/news/2024-01-sea-otters-widespread-california-kelp.html Plants & Animals Thu, 18 Jan 2024 14:33:04 EST news624810782 The unique underwater kelp forests that line the Pacific Coast support a varied ecosystem that was thought to have evolved along with the kelp over the past 14 million years. https://phys.org/news/2024-01-fossil-holdfasts-kelp-predate-animals.html Ecology Mon, 15 Jan 2024 15:00:02 EST news624529645 The Santa Barbara Channel's kelp forests and its sandy beaches are intimately connected. Giant kelp, the foundation species of rocky reefs, serves as a major part of the beach food web as fronds of the giant seaweed break away from the forest and are transported to the beach. But the relationship goes deeper. https://phys.org/news/2024-01-uncovers-synchrony-kelp-forests-beach.html Ecology Wed, 03 Jan 2024 16:24:04 EST news623521441 "Back-to-school" season means buying pens and paper, figuring out the new bus route, and … earaches. Doctors typically treat these infections with antibiotics, but children don't always complete the full course, accelerating resistance to these medications. Today, researchers report developing a single-use nanoscale system that's unlikely to generate resistance. Using a compound similar to bleach in test animals, they show it can kill off one type of bacterium that causes ear infections, and it could someday be easily applied as a gel. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-back-to-school-ear-infections-antibiotic-resistance.html Bio & Medicine Tue, 15 Aug 2023 05:00:01 EDT news611250392 Growing seaweed in the open ocean is widely considered a viable way to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but a new study reveals the iron concentration in the open ocean is inadequate to sustain seaweed growth—a fact that scientists say should be part of the ocean afforestation debate. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-seaweed-ocean-foiled-iron-deficiency.html Plants & Animals Wed, 14 Jun 2023 10:21:20 EDT news605956877 Undersea kelp forests generate some $500 billion in fishing revenue and other benefits while absorbing five million metric tons of carbon dioxide a year, scientists estimated in a study published Tuesday. https://phys.org/news/2023-04-scientists-sea-kelp-generates-bn.html Ecology Tue, 18 Apr 2023 12:48:43 EDT news601040912 A new study published in PLOS ONE provides novel documentation of kelp forest decline along the west coast of the U.S. and Mexico in response to the 2014–2016 record-breaking marine heatwave, along with evidence of regional recovery. Using Kelpwatch.org, an open-source web tool used to visualize and analyze nearly 40 years of kelp canopy dynamics data derived from satellite imagery, the study uncovers a north-to-south pattern in kelp decline and recovery from the marine heatwave, for both giant kelp and bull kelp canopies. https://phys.org/news/2023-03-uncovers-unprecedented-declines-iconic-kelp.html Ecology Thu, 23 Mar 2023 16:50:11 EDT news598809008 Your average sunflower sea star can munch through almost five purple sea urchins in a week, and they don't seem to be picky about the quality of their food. https://phys.org/news/2023-02-sunflower-sea-stars-kelp-forests.html Plants & Animals Wed, 22 Feb 2023 13:32:50 EST news596295165 For millions of years, the Steller's sea cow, a four-ton marine mammal and relative of the manatee, shaped kelp forests along the Pacific coast of North America by eating massive quantities of kelp fronds from the upper canopies, thus allowing light to spur productivity in the understory. https://phys.org/news/2022-11-reveal-extinct-steller-sea-cow.html Ecology Mon, 28 Nov 2022 16:39:03 EST news588875941