A group of scientists made an international request for the conservation of macroalgae forests, reported the Dynamic Research Center for High Latitude Marine Ecosystems (IDEAL) of the Austral University of Chile (UACh).
Macroalgae forests are highly important ecosystems due to their fundamental role in the health and stability of the oceans. In recent years, its abundance has decreased in some regions of the planet, as a result of various disturbances of natural and anthropogenic origin.
With the mission of joining forces to learn more about these vital and biodiverse ecosystems, and develop common Latin American strategies for their protection, the first meeting of macroalgae mappers in Spanish was held in Punta Arenas, Chile.
The initiative was carried out at the IDEAL Center and had thirty attendees in person from Chile, Mexico, Argentina, Peru, the United States, Australia and Spain and more than sixty participants online. This transcontinental connection highlighted the importance of joining efforts to protect those highly productive ecosystems.
Missive
During the event, a letter was drafted that will be presented to various government authorities. In it, the participants expressed their commitment and urged the different governments to prioritize the conservation of macroalgae forests.
Marine geographer Alejandra Mora Soto, organizer of the meeting, explained that “we have colleagues who are seeing the spatiality of the kelp forest from different perspectives; from extension, geographical variability and biodiversity. They are beginning to be studied with sampling from above and below the forest” and she adds that “bringing out a science from the south that can revolutionize everything that is known about the ecology of kelp forests in the world. The potential is enormous.”
The scientific director of the “Por el Mar” Foundation, marine biologist Cristian Lagger, explained that “our work is strengthened when we work in coordination with scientists from other countries to establish common work methodologies.” It is about “standardizing sampling protocols, in order to be able to replicate them anywhere and make comparisons of our results. This is when these types of workshops are essential to agree, coordinate and promote work in order to obtain the best strategies to protect key ecosystems such as underwater forests.”
Regarding the environmental and socioeconomic importance of kelp forests, Arafeh-Dalmau, researcher at Stanford (Hopkins Marine Station) and co-founder of MasKelp, highlighted their role as generators of wealth for coastal communities, their contribution to security food and its crucial function as lungs of the planet.
“Kelp forests occupy 30% of the world’s coasts and are one of the most productive ecosystems on the planet, comparable to tropical terrestrial forests.”
Research conducted over more than four decades around the world has shown that Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) significantly improve the state and resilience of marine ecosystems. These protected areas have the ability to recover overfished species that play a crucial role in ecosystem health, such as predators of herbivores. However, the effectiveness of MPAs is compromised when MPAs do not have high levels of protection (activities harmful to biodiversity are allowed), when they are not well managed and/or do not have good financing systems.
The meeting was sponsored by the IUCN Seaweed Specialist Group, the Seremi of Sciences, Knowledge, Technology and Innovation of the Southern Macrozone, the Seremi of the Environment of the Magallanes and Chilean Antarctic Region, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile, the MasKelp Foundation, the Patagonia Azul Foundation, the Institute of Marine and Limnological Sciences of the Austral University of Chile, the Por El Mar Foundation, and Stanford University.