The kelp forests that hug the Pacific coastline are an underwater jungle. They're a thicket of colossal algae intermixed with a pageant of life that includes snails, urchins, sea lions, sea otters, ...

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 ...

Marine scientists at UC Santa Barbara have found that disturbances to giant kelp forests have a major influence on their net ...

With their roly-poly bodies, child-like eyes, long whiskers and tiny padded paws, otters are some of the most charismatic animals in nature. But while being cute doesn't serve much purpose in the wild ...

UC Santa Barbara marine scientists are uncovering just how tightly the beach and the nearshore are connected along the California coast. Often treated as discrete ecosystems because of the natural ...

Historical analysis shows that the marine mammals likely kept some of California’s kelp forests growing over the past 100 years. By Laura Baisas Published Jan 23, 2024 12:00 PM EST Add Popular Science ...

In the coastal waters off British Columbia, tribal volunteers from the Haida Nation dive for purple sea urchins amid a dense forest of rippling golden-brown kelp fronds. Sunlight filters through the ...

A sea otter floating above ribbons of kelp is undoubtedly one of nature’s cutest scenes. It’s well known that the marine mammals help make these sea surface ‘pillows’ more abundant, by eating the sea ...