Cayne Layton
Seeding Super Kelp
Giant kelp is the world’s largest marine algae, and grows up to 40 metres tall. These Tasmanian giants all but disappeared due to climate change and warming ocean conditions, but a team lead by Dr Cayne Layton, at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies at the University of Tasmania is working to bring them back.
They identified several varieties of giant ‘super kelp’ naturally more tolerant of warmer waters, and began using these in restoration trials; just 18 months in, the kelp in two experimental ‘seed patches’ are already over 10m tall. “Hopefully this is just the start of these patches becoming self-sustaining but also self-expanding,” Cayne says. See more here.
