Aquascope Facts
Cliff and rocky beach ecology

Marine forests

Diver in kelp forest
From about a half metres deep, the larger kelp specie build forests. Norwegian kelp forests can be composed of giant plants several metres tall and where divers can swim down amongst the stalks and the leaves are high above. Swedish kelp specie are seldom taller than 1,5 m, but even here the vegetationen is divided into several different layers with crust-like algae forming a thin layer on the rocks and thereafter thread and leaf-like algae under the "crown layer" which compose the larger kelps leaves. The "crown layer" is annual, with new leaves growing every year, while the stalks are perrenial. In the kelp forests, the variety of algae and small creatures is greater than amongst the seaweed. Both large and small fish flourish. Deeper down, the amount of algae diminishes and finally is absent. Here the attached creatures dominate.
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Cliffs and rocks are fantastic!
Zoning and flecked occurrence
Animals that are attached
Modular construction
Variation and change
Variations in water level
Wave exposure
Both cliffs and rocks
Freshwater and saltwater
Geography, climate and history
Organisms life cycles
Organisms effect on each other
Energy and the flow of material

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Bo Johannesson | Martin Larsvik | Lars-Ove Loo | Helena Samuelsson