Kelp forest carbon – the missing link?

Global climate change and the continuing increase of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels has resulted in a need to identify natural resources and methods that will help offset current human emissions, such as restoring and conserving terrestrial forests that use CO₂ for photosynthesis and store carbon
long-term in the forest floor.

Despite being some of the most productive ecosystems on the planet, underwater kelp forests are generally not considered as being important contributors to CO₂ offset schemes, owing to significant knowledge gaps surrounding the form, fate, and longevity of carbon produced, stored and released by kelp.

However, this ‘missing’ carbon may represent a significant, but previously overlooked, contributor to CO₂ offset schemes. Research fellow Dr Caitlin Blain will work with a new interdisciplinary team at the University of Auckland to answer some of the questions surrounding kelp carbon and assess the value of restoring and conserving kelp forests for mitigating human CO₂ emissions.