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RESEARCH ARTICLE

Climate-driven shifts in species’ distributions may exacerbate the impacts of storm disturbances on North-east Atlantic kelp forests

Dan A. Smale A C and Thomas Vance B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, The Laboratory, Citadel Hill, Plymouth, PL1 2PB, UK.

B PML Applications Ltd, Prospect Place, Plymouth, PL1 3DH, UK.

C Corresponding author. Email: dansma@mba.ac.uk

Marine and Freshwater Research 67(1) 65-74 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF14155
Submitted: 13 June 2014  Accepted: 1 October 2014   Published: 22 June 2015

Abstract

Physical disturbance through wave action is a major determinant of kelp forest structure. The North-east Atlantic storm season of 2013–14 was unusually severe; the south coast of the UK was subjected to 6 of the 12 most intense storms recorded in the past 5 years. Inshore significant wave heights and periods exceeded 7 m and 13 s with two storms classified as ‘1-in-30 year’ events. We examined the impacts of the storm season on kelp canopies at three study sites. Monospecific canopies comprising Laminaria hyperborea were unaffected by storm disturbance. However, at one study site a mixed canopy comprising Laminaria ochroleuca, Saccharina latissima and L. hyperborea was significantly altered by the storms, due to decreased abundances of the former two species. Quantification of freshly severed stipes suggested that the ‘warm water’ kelp L. ochroleuca was more susceptible to storm damage than L. hyperborea. Overall, kelp canopies were highly resistant to storm disturbance because of the low vulnerability of L. hyperborea to intense wave action. However, if climate-driven shifts in kelp species distributions result in more mixed canopies, as predicted, then resistance to storm disturbance may be eroded.

Additional keywords: benthic communities, disturbance ecology, Laminariales, macroalgae, physical disturbance, subtidal reefs.


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