New Paper: Global Kelp Forest Change

Four years ago, I was fortunately enough to lead a working group on the global impact of climate change on kelp forests. Our first research product has just come out in PNAS, and I am incredibly proud of it. In it, we analyze hundreds of data sets of kelp forest change spanning nearly a half century of investigations. We find that 38% of the world’s forests are indeed in decline. Hopefully, the rest are either staying the same or even increasing in some places. There’s a lot to chew on here, with plenty of followup analyses (some focusing on climate change) in the works.

For now, enjoy!

Krumhansl, K.A., Okamoto, D.K., Rassweiler, A., Novak, M., Bolton, J.J., Cavanaugh, K.C., Connell, S.D., Johnson, C.R., Ling, S.D., Micheli, F., Norderhaug, K.M., Pérez-Matus, A., Sousa-Pinto, I., Reed, D.C., Salomon, A.K., Shears, N.T., Wernberg, T., Anderson, R.J., Barrett, N.S., Buschmann, A.H., Carr, M.H., Caselle, J.E., Derienne, S., Edgar, G.J., Edwards, M., Estes, J.A., Goodwin, C., Kenner, M.C., Kushner, D.J., Moy, F.E., Nunn, J., Steneck, R., Vasquez, J.A., Watson, J., Witman, J.D., Byrnes, J.E.K., In Press. Global patterns of kelp forest change over the past half-century. PNAS. [link]