Award: OCE-0620276

Although there is increasing concern about the impacts of human activities on coastal ecosystems, there have been few long-term studies of the linkages among oceanic, shallow reef, sandy beaches, wetland, and watershed habitats on land. SBC LTER is helping to fill this gap by evaluating oceanic and coastal watershed influences on giant kelp forests, a highly productive and diverse marine ecosystem that occurs in shallow waters of the land-ocean margin in temperate regions throughout the world. The amount of nutrients and organic matter delivered to kelp forests from land and the surrounding ocean varies in response to short- and long-term changes in climate, ocean conditions and human use. Variation in the supply of these commodities interacts with natural and human-induced disturbances to influence the abundance and species composition of the forest inhabitants and the ecological services that they provide. The research conducted during this award period (2006-2012) focused on three general themes: (1) The influence of environmental drivers on the exchange rates of organic and inorganic materials between giant kelp forests and adjacent land and ocean habitats, (2) The direct effects of environmental drivers on the biological structure and ecological functions of kelp forest communities, and (3) The indirect effects of environmental drivers on kelp forest community structure and function and the feedbacks between biological structure and ecological function. Our research on these themes has revealed: (1) The significant role of fire and land use on the amount and timing of delivery of nutrients, organic matter and sediments from watersheds to the coastal ocean, and the emergent importance of cross-shelf circulation in delivering offshore ocean nutrients and organic matter to inshore kelp forests (Theme 1); (2) Regional differences in wave disturbance can overwhelm those in nutrient supply and grazing intensity to determine regional patterns of primary production by giant kelp (Theme 2); and (3) Shifts in climate-driven disturbances to foundation species like giant kelp are likely to cause indirect impacts that cascade through entire ecosystems (Theme 3). The ongoing time series data collected by the SBC LTER are providing unique and valuable insights into key ecological processes, including ecosystem responses to climate and human activities across relevant spatial and temporal scales. All SBC data are fully documented and are freely available to the science community via SBC LTERÆs public website (http://sbc.lternet.edu/). University education and training are tightly integrated into all aspects of our research which involved the active participation of 14 post docs, 54 graduate students, and more than 250 undergraduate students during the award period. Our K-12 education program engages teachers and students around a theme of watershed and marine ecology that incorporates SBC LTER research. By partnering with the educational marine aquarium facility at UC Santa Barbara our research results reached over 42,000 students and many visitors from the general public. Last Modified: 12/04/2013 Submitted by: Daniel C Reed