Hannah Scarlett Earp

• MSc International Studies in Aquatic Tropical Ecology, BSc Marine Biology & Oceanography with International Experience
• PhD Candidate at Aberystwyth University

This guidebook is intended to equip the global community with practical knowledge contributing to the protection and restoration of kelp forests around the world. Kelp forests (Orders Laminariales and Fucales) are important marine ecosystems for subtropical, temperate, and arctic oceans around the world. These underwater forests support marine biod...

Introduction To counteract the rapid loss of marine forests globally and meet international commitments of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and the Convention on Biological Diversity ‘30 by 30’ targets, there is an urgent need to enhance our capacity for macroalgal restoration. The Green Gravel Action Group (GGAG) is a global network of 67 me...

Kelp forests are being degraded and/or lost in many regions, and as such, interest in active kelp restoration approaches to reinstate forests is growing. ‘Green gravel’ is a promising new kelp restoration technique that involves seeding small rocks with kelp zoospores, rearing the gametophyte and juvenile sporophyte stages in aquaria before outplan...

Kelp species function as foundation organisms in coastal marine ecosystems, where they alter environmental conditions and promote local biodiversity by providing complex biogenic habitat for an array of associated organisms. The structure and functioning of kelp forest ecosystems in some regions, such as along the Peruvian coastline, remain critica...

Essential for healthy oceans, coastal communities, fisheries, economies, and marine biodiversity from the subtropics to the polar regions, kelp forests are an integral and threatened ocean ecosystem. Their benefits are connected to over 740 million people who live beside a kelp forest, and their economic potential is valued at least 500 billion USD...

Marine kelp forests cover 1/3 of our world's coastlines, are heralded as a nature-based solution to address socio-environmental issues, connect hundreds of millions of people with the ocean, and support a rich web of biodiversity throughout our oceans. But they are increasingly threatened with some areas reporting over 90% declines in kelp forest c...

Ecological communities are structured by a range of processes that operate over a range of spatial scales. While our understanding of such biodiversity patterns in macro-communities is well studied, our understanding at the microbial level is still lacking. Bacteria can be free living or associated with host eukaryotes, forming part of a wider "mic...

Artificial structures are an increasingly common feature of coastal marine environments. These structures are poor surrogates of natural rocky shores, and generally support less diverse communities and reduced population sizes. Little is known about sub-lethal effects of such structures in terms of demographic properties and reproductive potential,...

Artificial structures often support depauperate communities compared to natural rocky shores. Understanding variation in ecological success across shore types, particularly regarding habitat-forming species or those with structuring roles, is important to determine how artificial structure proliferation may influence ecosystem functioning and servi...

Marine forests is a term commonly used for coastal marine habitats formed by dense stands of brown macroalgae, typically consisting of kelp and fucoids. These habitats are highly productive, offer habitat to numerous marine organisms, and support a range of invaluable ecosystem services. Despite their importance, marine forests are declining in man...

Citizen science represents an effective means of collecting ecological data; however, the quality/reliability of these data is often questioned. Quality assurance procedures are therefore important to determine the validity of citizen science data and to promote confidence in conclusions. Here, data generated by a marine citizen science project con...

Global climate change is exposing intertidal organisms to increasing air and sea temperatures and changing ocean currents, affecting their ability to disperse, survive and reproduce, and resulting in shifts in their distribution and abundance. Improved understanding of these shifts requires characterization of population structure and local adaptat...

Marine ecosystems have been used, impacted by, and managed by human populations for millennia. As ecosystem degradation has been a common outcome of these activities, marine management increasingly considers ecosystem restoration. Currently, there is no coherent data recording format or framework for marine restoration projects. As a result, data a...

Artificial structures are widespread features of coastal marine environments. These structures, however, are poor surrogates of natural rocky shores, meaning they generally support depauperate assemblages with reduced population sizes. Little is known about sub-lethal effects of such structures, for example, in terms of demographic properties and r...

Aim Understanding patterns in the abundance of species across thermal ranges can give useful insights into the potential impacts of climate change. The abundant‐centre hypothesis suggests that species will reach peak abundance at the centre of their thermal range where conditions are optimal, but evidence in support of this hypothesis is mixed and...

Over the last decade, significant advances in citizen science have occurred, allowing projects to extend in scope from the ocean floor to the Milky Way and cover almost everything in between. These projects have provided cost-effective means to collect extensive data sets covering vast spatio-temporal scales that can be used in scientific research,...

Citizen scientists play an important role in generating extensive data sets on marine environments and their associated flora and fauna. However, errors resulting from misidentification and over/underestimation of abundances may reduce the accuracy of these data sets and consequently, perceptions regarding data validity are one of the greatest chal...

Tropical mangrove forests, seagrass beds, and coral reefs are among the most diverse and productive ecosystems on Earth. Their evolution in dynamic, and ever-changing environments means they have developed a capacity to withstand and recover (i.e., are resilient) from distur- bances caused by anthropogenic activities and climatic perturbations. The...