Canada’s Oceans Now: Atlantic Ecosystems, 2022 - Healthy and impacted kelp forests and Eelgrass beds

Healthy and impacted kelp forests and Eelgrass beds
When kelp forests and Eelgrass beds are stressed, their structure changes, and they can no longer provide benefits to other species.

This infographic has four sections. Each section is an underwater illustration with sunlight shining through blue water to a greyish-brown sandy bottom. Plants, other associated species, and the processes which are impacting them in each circumstance are illustrated.

Healthy kelp forest

• Kelp forests are most common along wave-exposed rocky headlands and offshore ledges of Nova Scotia.

Kelp plants are illustrated attached to rocks on the seafloor. Different types of fish are swimming amongst the kelp and invertebrates species are shown along the seafloor. Small black text at the bottom indicates there are diverse native species in this environment. Two processes are illustrated:

• nutrient cycling (with circling arrows)
• CO₂ absorbed (with circling arrows)

Impacted kelp Forest

• Kelp has declined significantly over the last 60 years on the Scotian Shelf.

Small black text in the water column indicates warmer water. Two kelp plants are attached to rocks on the seafloor. A circle in the middle of the water column has an picture of a bryozoan. Red arrows point from the circle to the kelp plants which have white spots indicating attached bryozoans. Small pieces are broken off the kelp to the right and are being swept away by currents. Small black text above the circle and next to the broken kelp:

• Invasive bryozoan weakens kelp
• Storms break weaker kelp

To the bottom on the seafloor and scattered rocks, to the left there is red coloured algae and to the right green sea urchins. The accompanying black text:

• Other algae replace kelp
• Sea urchins graze kelp to low abundance

Healthy Eelgrass beds

• Most surveyed beds on the Newfoundland and Labrador Shelves were stable or increasing.

Eelgrass plants grow from the seafloor to the right with the background filled with less detailed plants. Small fish are swimming within the Eelgrass forest with a flatfish and crabs on the seafloor. A small box to the bottom left illustrates three clams living in the sandy seafloor between the eelgrass plants. There are diverse native species in this environment. In the water column, small black text describes the conditions and processes in this environment:

• Clear water
• Direct sunlight
• CO₂ absorbed (with circling arrows)
• Strong currents
• Lower nitrogen
• Cold water
• Nursery habitat

Impacted Eelgrass beds

• About 30% of surveyed eelgrass beds are decreasing; mostly in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Scotian Shelf and Placentia Bay

At the top of the water column, there is a bloom of green algae growth on the left and a man-made structure on top of the water to the right. Beneath the algae growth the water is a darker colour with white text: turbid water

Under the man-made structure there is less light through the water column, and small black text says: structures in water block sunlight.

In the water column, small black text describes the conditions in this environment:

• Higher nitrogen (with two icons of bubbles and NO₃- written in the middle)
• Weak currents
• Warm water
• Invasive green crab
• Invasive tunicate

On the seafloor, four unhealthy Eelgrass plants are a dark green colour. A circle to the left has a picture of an invasive tunicate and an arrow points to red dots on the Eelgrass leaves. Invasive green crabs are illustrated on the seafloor destroying eelgrass leaves.