COSMOS Issue 86 – 55SUSTAINABILITY BIOLOGYIn November 2018, UTAS and the Climate
Foundation launched an initiative to identify and
cultivate giant kelp individuals that are better adapted
to a warming ocean. The team plans to grow these
“super kelp” specimens to look for individuals that can
withstand the region’s predicted future conditions.
The fact that 95% of eastern Tasmania’s giant
kelp forests are already gone might make their efforts
seem almost futile. But in the remaining 5% the
scientists saw hope, and that optimism has so far been
vindicated.
Early in 2020 Layton reported that “over the new
year the first results of our preliminary lab tests came
out and yes, we’ve found super kelp”. Layton says
the results are so important that the research team is
re-running the experiment immediately.
“And we’re moving ahead with the next step at
the same time,” he says. “What we’ve done [in early
January] is outplanted some of those super kelp into
the wild. We’ve got three sites in south-east Tasmania
where we’re attempting forest restoration for giant
kelp. At those sites we’ve replanted some of the five
families that are the best performers.”
While reversing climate change is the true solution
to much of the degradation these valuable ecosystems
are sustaining, innovative approaches like these might
at least buy them – and us – valuable time.
This story is edited from bioGraphic, an online
magazine about nature and sustainability powered
by the California Academy of Sciences.
The Great Southern Reef’s
eastern Tasmanian waters
yield a stunted kelp crop
(opposite) compared to the
giant forests of 25 years ago –
illustrated on the screen held
by dive school operator Mick
Baron. Innovative responses
to climate-change-induced
warmer waters include this
patch of transplanted kelp
(left) off Maria Island, being
checked by marine ecologist
Craig Johnson. The tent
over some of the transplants
measures photosynthetic rate,
an indicator of health.
Some east-coast Tassie
stores still sell crayfish
(rock lobster), but most
commercially caught are
exported.