Kelp
Kelps are large brown algae seaweeds that make up the order Laminariales. There are about 30 different genera.
Kelp forest
In addition to ecological monitoring of kelp forests before, during, and after such disturbances, scientists try to tease apart the intricacies of kelp forest dynamics using experimental manipulations. By working on smaller spatial-temporal scales, they can control for the presence or absence of specific biotic and abiotic factors to discover the operative mechanisms. For example, in southern Australia, manipulations of kelp canopy types demonstrated that the relative amount of "Ecklonia radiata" in a canopy could be used to predict understory species assemblages; consequently, the proportion of "E. radiata" can be used as an indicator of other species occurring in the environment.