Excerpts: Much of the extraordinary production of kelp falls to the ocean floor, like leaf litter in terrestrial forests. There, it either remains to support productive and species rich detritus-based forest food webs, or is exported by currents to adjacent ecosystems where it fuels food webs on sandy beaches, deep rocky reefs or submarine canyons. Among the many species that inhabit kelp forests are a wide variety of economically important species such as sea urchins, abalone, lobster, sea cucumbers, rockfishes and other finishes, as well as s endangered species including abalone and southern sea otters. The kept itself is harvested to feed abalone in aquaculture facilities and for use in a number of human products. The forests also support economically important eco-tourism, including kayaking, bird and marine mammal watching and scuba diving.
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PISCO was established in 1999 by scientists from four core campuses, Oregon State University, Stanford University Hopkins Marine Station, University of California, Santa Cruz, University of Clarify Santa Barbara.
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