Scott Bennett1
1University of Tasmania, Australia
Marine heatwaves have caused the loss of over 100,000Ha of kelp forest in Australia in recent decades. In many parts of Australia, however, kelp forests are thriving. So how can we predict the vulnerability of kelp forests to climate impacts and what are the ecological implications of losing kelp forests for temperate reef function? Here I discuss how different models of climate change vulnerability compare to empirical changes in kelp forests across Australia over recent decades. I then explore how observed changes in kelp forest cover and composition have impacted the productivity and biodiversity of coastal ecosystems in Tasmania over the past 40 years. Our results highlight that kelp forest across Australia are vulnerable to marine heatwaves although the magnitude of impact varies with range position. Further, warming has had contrasting effects on individual rates of productivity between kelp species, but changes in kelp forest composition over the past four decades has led to a 40-fold decline in forest productivity. Our results highlight that kelp forests across Australia are particularly vulnerable more frequent marine heatwaves. The ecological implications of kelp forest loss have already been profound and requires urgent action to mitigate further collapse of kelp forests ecosystems in Australia.
Biography
Scott is a marine ecologist whose research focuses on how ecological patterns and processes change across broad environmental gradients (particularly temperature), in coastal marine ecosystems. Scott primarily uses comparative experimental approaches in physiology, population biology and community ecology to understand the drivers of ecological change across space and time.