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Giant kelp marine forests of south east Australia is an endangered ecological community, listed under the EPBC Act of the Commonwealth of Australia. The community is found in coastal waters of Victoria,
Giant kelp marine forests of south east Australia is an endangered ecological community, listed under the EPBC Act of the Commonwealth of Australia. The community is found in coastal waters of Victoria, South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
, and Tasmania
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, nickname =
, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdi ...
.Description
Kelp forests are found in cold water regions in shallow coastal waters. Giant kelp marine forests are diverse, complex and highly productive components and foundation species of cold-water rocky marine coastlines around the world. Giant kelp marine forests in Australia are typically found in temperate south eastern waters on rocky reefs where conditions are cool and reasonably nutrient rich. The Giant kelp marine forests of south east Australia is a community extending from the ocean floor to the ocean surface, on a rocky substrate, and has a ‘forest-like’ structure with many organisms occupying its various layers, includingpelagic
The pelagic zone consists of the water column of the open ocean, and can be further divided into regions by depth (as illustrated on the right). The word ''pelagic'' is derived . The pelagic zone can be thought of as an imaginary cylinder or wa ...
and demersal
The demersal zone is the part of the sea or ocean (or deep lake) consisting of the part of the water column near to (and significantly affected by) the seabed and the benthos. The demersal zone is just above the benthic zone and forms a layer of ...
fishes, sea birds, turtles and marine mammals in addition to the invertebrate organisms that inhabit the sea floor. The ecological community is characterised by a closed to semi-closed surface or subsurface canopy of '' M. pyrifera''. This species is a foundation species which provides critical ecosystem services such as, for example, nursery grounds, primary production, and adult habitats for marine organisms, including Chordata
A chordate () is an animal of the phylum Chordata (). All chordates possess, at some point during their larval or adult stages, five synapomorphies, or primary physical characteristics, that distinguish them from all the other taxa. These fiv ...
, Arthropoda
Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a Segmentation (biology), segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and Arth ...
, Annelida, Echinodermata
An echinoderm () is any member of the phylum Echinodermata (). The adults are recognisable by their (usually five-point) radial symmetry, and include starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins, sand dollars, and sea cucumbers, as well as the sea li ...
, Bryozoa
Bryozoa (also known as the Polyzoa, Ectoprocta or commonly as moss animals) are a phylum of simple, aquatic invertebrate animals, nearly all living in sedentary colonies. Typically about long, they have a special feeding structure called a l ...
, Cnidaria
Cnidaria () is a phylum under kingdom Animalia containing over 11,000 species of aquatic animals found both in freshwater and marine environments, predominantly the latter.
Their distinguishing feature is cnidocytes, specialized cells that th ...
, Mollusca
Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...
, Platyhelminthes
The flatworms, flat worms, Platyhelminthes, or platyhelminths (from the Greek language, Greek πλατύ, ''platy'', meaning "flat" and ἕλμινς (root: ἑλμινθ-), ''helminth-'', meaning "worm") are a Phylum (biology), phylum of relati ...
, Brachiopoda and Porifera
Sponges, the members of the phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), are a basal animal clade as a sister of the diploblasts. They are multicellular organisms that have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate through th ...
. This is the only kelp which gives this three dimensional structure from the sea floor to the sea surface, and the loss of giant kelp plants destroys this community.
Threats
Threats to the community include #increase in sea surface temperature due to climate change #range expansion of kelp-grazingsea urchins
Sea urchins () are spiny, globular echinoderms in the class Echinoidea. About 950 species of sea urchin live on the seabed of every ocean and inhabit every depth zone from the intertidal seashore down to . The spherical, hard shells (tests) of ...
(due to these temperature changes)
#land-use changes resulting in increasing sediment flows which decrease the quality and availability of kelp habitatConservation status
This ecological community has been listed as endangered under the ''Commonwealth EPBC Act'' since 29 August 2012, after advice to the minister.References
{{reflist, refs= {{citation, url=https://www.nespmarine.edu.au/system/files/Layton%20et%20al_E7_M5_Assessing%20the%20feasibility%20of%20restoring%20giant%20kelp%20forests%20in%20Tas.pdf , accessdate=2021-07-29, title=Assessing the feasibility of restoring giant kelp forests in Tasmania, author=Cayne Layton, Craig R. Johnson, date=2021, publisher=Marine Biodiversity Hub. Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania. Endangered ecological communities Ecoregions of Australia