The Role of Kelp in the Marine Environment - National Parks ...

� Fringe Areas
Surface Canopy
A dense and well-developed kelp forest may provide a buoyant mat upon which birds
may perch. This is particularly noted in California USA where forests of the Giant
Kelp Macrocystis spp. provide roost sites for various gull species and also a foraging
platform from which they forage for fish and other prey in the kelp surface canopy
(Foster & Schiel, 1985).
No Irish records of birds resting within kelp canopies were found during the current
review but there is the potential for some bird species (e.g., gulls Family Laridae) to
rest within this habitat by either perching or swimming. Indeed many seemingly
unstable offshore structures provide perching platforms as they are relatively safe
from shore predators and human disturbance. Roycroft et al. (2004) found that
floating mussel long-line suspension buoys were used as perching platforms for a
number of bird species such as Laridae (gulls), Oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus,
Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula, Hooded Crow Corvus corone cornix,
Phalacrocoracidae (Shags and Cormorants), and Black Guillemots Cepphus grylle.
Oystercatchers were also observed foraging along lengths of rope of mussel long-line
(D. Roycroft, pers.comm.) which might be considered a particularly small and
unstable foraging habitat.
Mid and Bottom Waters
Little published information exists as to specific interactions between foraging
seabirds and kelp forests (e.g., Wilkinson, 1995).
Families of birds that may potentially forage within infralittoral reef kelp forests
include those commonly using inshore waters:
Gaviidae (Divers) e.g., Great Northern Diver Gavia immer.
Podicipedidae (Grebes) e.g., Great Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus
Phalacrocoracidae e.g., Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo, Shags
Anatidae (Ducks)
Phalacrocorax aristotelis.
e.g., Eider Somateria mollissima
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