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CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research
Past Seminars

Seminar Abstract

Field and laboratory insights into the hydrodynamic environment within a giant kelp forest

In many temperate coastal regions, including California and south-eastern Australia, kelp forests form an important sub-tidal habitat for a wide variety of organisms.

We are trying to gain a better understanding of the physical processes that contribute to the transport of important biological quantities (food particles, nutrients, larvae and spores) within a Giant Kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) forest. Using a combination of field and laboratory experiments, we are investigating processes that contribute to horizontal exchange between the kelp forest and the surrounding environment, and processes contributing to vertical mixing and turbulence generation within the kelp forest.

Field experiments based in Santa Cruz, California, indicate that mean currents, waves and internal waves are all potentially important for transport in this system, and all may be modified by the presence of a kelp forest. In the laboratory we have constructed a 1:25 scale kelp forest to study the physical mechanisms by which kelp forests alter the mean flow and turbulence characteristics in more detail.

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CSIRO = Marine Laboratories Auditorium, Castray Esplanade, Hobart

For further information, or to schedule a seminar, contact:
Peter Oke, (Oceanographic seminars) CSIRO Marine Research (03) 6232 5387
Piers Dunstan, (Biological seminars) CSIRO Marine Research (03) 6232 5382
Katrina Nitschke, Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems CRC (03) 6226 2265 & IASOS, University of Tasmania (03) 6226 2509