Scaling and Structural Properties of Juvenile Bull Kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana).

ABSTRACT: Bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana), the only canopy-forming kelp in the Salish Sea, provides primary production in the nearshore subtidal environment and serves as an important habitat for economically and ecologically important species. An annual species, each year juvenile bull kelp sporophytes must grow from the hydrodynamically more benign benthos to the water column, where they experience substantial drag at the surface. Because of the differences in morphology and ecology across life stages, and the fact that previous work has focused mainly on adult bull kelp, we tested whether morphology and structural properties change with stipe length, investigating scaling of both juvenile (stipe length < 40 cm) and mature (stipe length > 40 cm) kelp, and testing how juvenile stipes fail.

SUBMITTER: Dobkowski KA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8363980 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature