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Environment

How your seaweed-filled beach pics could help monitor climate change

By Layal Liverpool

23 June 2021

�鶹��ý. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine. — Alex Mustard/naturepl.com

PLANNING a trip to the beach? If you are holidaying in the UK, remember to cast a keen eye over the seaweed lying around. What you see could help monitor the impact of climate change on marine life.

Seaweed, including kelp forests, is a key component of marine ecosystems globally. The sea around the UK alone is home to more than 600 species. However, they are threatened by rising sea temperatures, ocean acidification and increases in non-native species.

“We know that 30 per cent of kelp around the world is changing, has been lost or is threatened,” says

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