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With its spectacular rate of growth, rimurimu seems to be more resilient than rimurapa to short-term spikes in temperature. When that temperature change is prolonged, however, devastation can occur. And if the change in ocean temperature lasts long enough, invasive species seize the opportunity to move in. In Tasmania, ocean warming has caused more than 90 per cent of that coast’s rimurimu forests to vanish, utterly changing marine ecosystems. Long-spined sea urchins, which thrive in warmer waters, have moved south to invade the denuded coast. Now, their grazing prevents kelp re-establishing. In California, it’s the same story: almost 95 per cent of kelp forests disappeared between 2009 and 2019, and invasive sea urchins have taken over.
Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue: 176 July/August 2022.
Read the Feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/the-kelp/
Photograph Richard Robinson © 2011. Rights managed image. No Reproduction without prior written permission.
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Richard Robinson © 2022. No Reproduction without prior written permission.
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THE KELP
With its spectacular rate of growth, rimurimu seems to be more resilient than rimurapa to short-term spikes in temperature. When that temperature change is prolonged, however, devastation can occur. And if the change in ocean temperature lasts long enough, invasive species seize the opportunity to move in. In Tasmania, ocean warming has caused more than 90 per cent of that coast’s rimurimu forests to vanish, utterly changing marine ecosystems. Long-spined sea urchins, which thrive in warmer waters, have moved south to invade the denuded coast. Now, their grazing prevents kelp re-establishing. In California, it’s the same story: almost 95 per cent of kelp forests disappeared between 2009 and 2019, and invasive sea urchins have taken over.<br /> Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue: 176 July/August 2022.<br /> Read the Feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/the-kelp/<br /> Photograph Richard Robinson © 2011. Rights managed image. No Reproduction without prior written permission.