As well as providing an invaluable habitat, seaweeds provide ‘ecosystem’ services such as protecting our coastlines from storm surges and erosion, buffering rising ocean acidity, and maybe most importantly given the threat of climate change that looms over us all, kelp forests absorb more carbon than terrestrial forests. There are hundreds of species of seaweed in Scotland and between them they sustain a huge variety of life, in particular the kelps which are known to be one of the most dynamic and biodiverse habitats on the planet. Our coastal kelp forests are the bottom of the food chain, the foundation upon which myriad species depend.
