California scientists grow kelp in labs at 74,000 spores per millilitre

Greater Farallones Association Kelp restoration specialist Julieta Gomez holding up kelp she is tending at the lab to grow spores for outplanting for kelp restoration. Image Credit: Jennifer Stock/NOAA California scientists are growing young bull kelp in laboratory tanks before placing it back into coastal waters where underwater forests have largely disappeared. At Bodega Marine Laboratory, researchers have developed cultures containing as many as 74,000 kelp spores per millilitre, creating a steady supply for restoration work. The effort is aimed at rebuilding parts of Northern California’s kelp forests, which have been badly damaged by warming seas, the loss of sea-star predators and the resulting spread of purple sea urchins. The first young plants are now being moved from controlled laboratory conditions to the ocean.How the kelp restoration reached 74,000 spores per millilitreThe restoration centres on bull kelp, a large brown algae that once formed extensive underwater forests along Northern California. Courthouse News Service reported that bull kelp can grow as much as a foot a day and reach nearly 100 feet in height, despite living for only about a year.Its decline became ...