Researchers mapped 5,600km of Canada’s coast using 170 years of records; kelp persistence reached...

Centennial persistence of kelp forests on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, Canada Researchers have reconstructed nearly 170 years of the history of kelp forests along Canada's Pacific coast, finding that colder, wave-exposed waters off Vancouver Island protected most kelp forests while warmer, sheltered areas lost nearly half of them.The study mapped about 5,600 kilometres of coastline on the West Coast of Vancouver Island and found that around 88 per cent of kelp forests in cooler regions persisted over the past century. In comparison, persistence fell to 52 per cent in the warmest and most sheltered part of the coast, where higher spring and summer sea surface temperatures were linked to kelp decline.The findings come from the study, Centennial persistence of kelp forests on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, Canada, published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science. Researchers combined British Admiralty nautical charts dating from 1858 to 1956 with Sentinel-2 satellite images collected between 2020 and 2023, creating one of the longest regional records of kelp forests in Canada.Nearly two centuries of records brought togetherThe research focused on the West Coast of Vanc...