Kelp
Kelps are large brown algae seaweeds that make up the order Laminariales. There are about 30 different genera.
Wheeler J. North
North’s principal research interest was marine ecology, specifically the kelp beds off Southern California and the population ecology of sea urchins. He studied the effects of sewage outfalls and El Niño on kelp forests, and the predation of kelp by sea urchins. He served as a consultant for California’s kelp-harvesting industry. He was one of the first marine scientists to employ SCUBA technology for marine research beginning as a student in 1949. While at Scripps, he worked with group studying the physiology of diving and was a pioneer in establishing scientific diving safety protocols. He was a consulting scientist after the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill, and after 1973 oil crisis, he studied the possibility of kelp farms to produce biomass as an alternative fuel. He contributed to the growth of the kelp farming industry in China. He also studied the ecological effects of warm-water discharges from nuclear power plants on kelp forests, and in the early 1990s he undertook studies to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide using marine biomass and clathrate hydrates.North was married on 16 Aug 1952 in La Jolla to Nance J. Fountain (1927-2011) of Oklahoma, who was a laboratory technician at Scripps Oceanographic Institution and they had a son Wheeler O. North (b. 1957). On April 25, 1964 he married his second wife, biologist Barbara A. Best. In 1974, Barbara Best North was a co-author along with Grover C. Stephens of a textbook on Biology. She received further training as a physician and she entered private practice specializing in holistic health. Upon Wheeler North's death on December 20, 2002 at Newport Beach, California, the Southern California Academy of Sciences established the "Wheeler North Award for Scientific Excellence" given for excellence in research emphasizing the Southern California area and a commitment to the Southern California scientific community.