Kelp beds provide significant ecosystem services and socioeconomic benefits globally, and prominently in coastal zones of the California Current. Their distributions and abundance, however, vary greatly over space and time. Here, we describe long-term patterns of Giant Kelp ( Macrocystis pyrifera ) sea surface canopy area off the coast of San Diego County from 1983 through 2019 along with recent patterns of water column nitrat...

Soundscape ecology is a relatively new field that can provide insights into the structure and health of marine habitats. Though this field is growing, the acoustics of many marine habitats, including the giant kelp forests off Southern California, remain poorly studied. Here, we examine the diel and seasonal periodicity of kelp forest soundscapes within a protected and unprotected site off San Diego, CA. Singular value decompo...

The nutrient climate on the inner shelf off southern California changed markedly across the 1976‐1977 North Pacific climate regime shift. With respect to giant kelp ( Macrocystis pyrifera ) canopies off southern California, the nitrate climate shifted from relatively replete conditions prior to the regime shift to depleted conditions afterward, and the dynamics of 14 giant kelp forests appeared to change as a result. The respo...

The distribution of estuarine and oceanic water masses along the shelf of Mamala Bay, O'ahu, Hawaii, were determined by use of larval supply and recruitment patterns of benthic invertebrate species, stable C and N isotopic compositions of the suspension‐feeding bivalve, Spondylus tenebrosus , turbidity, drifter, and CTD data. The recruitment of different species among estuaries was used to associate larval species with particu...