Giant kelp and bull kelp forests create habitats that support an amazing diversity of sea life, and their floating canopies are a prominent feature at the surface of California coastal waters.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The weathered UC Davis Marine Laboratory looms in thick fog on the edge of the ocean near Bodega Bay. Inside, an experiment is playing out that gives a badly needed boost to ...

When I sat down to interview Santa Barbara–based fisherman Chris Goldblatt, I was expecting a conversation about the benefits of putting rocks on the seafloor to create reef habitats. What I got ...

Visitors and divers at the kelp forest habitat at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) The decline of California’s kelp forests since the marine heat wave of 2013-17 has ...

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, ...

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 ...

It fringes the Cape Town shoreline and stretches north for more than 1,000km into Namibia. A biodiversity engine, nursery, ...

Parts of the warming Gulf of Maine have become inhospitable for kelp forests, according to new research from the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in East Boothbay. Between 2001 and 2018, a team ...

Stay on top of what’s happening in the Bay Area with essential Bay Area news stories, sent to your inbox every weekday. The Bay Bay Area-raised host Ericka Cruz Guevarra brings you context and ...