Santa Cruz Dive Club

10/16/2025

09/03/2025

08/13/2025

Global Kelp Forests: Biodiversity, Climate, and Community 🌿

Join us on August 19 at 12 pm PST and dive into the fascinating world of kelp during our live, discussion-based Zoom webinar featuring expert voices from Argentina, Australia, California, and South Africa!

Panelists:
- Dr. Adriana Vergés, Professor of Marine Ecology, University of New South Wales and Kelp Forest Alliance
- Candelaria Belén Piemonte, Biologist and art-ivist, SOA Argentina
- Dr. Jennifer Smith, Professor, Marine Biology, Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego
- Loyiso Dunga aka The Kelp Keeper, Executive Director, The Seas of Good Hope; Parley for the Oceans; SANBI, South Africa
Moderated by Dr. Tessa Hempson, Chief Scientist, Mission Blue

Register now and submit your questions ahead of time!
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/8617540892940/WN_J4vzhNMZTM2Prp-Ti7Zppg

07/02/2025

06/25/2025

This is the page for Giant Giant Kelp Restoration Project.

06/20/2025

03/27/2025

Our money’s on the leggy boi 🌻⭐️

Just the presence of sunflower stars changes predator - prey dynamics in kelp forest ecosystems. Native purple urchins and other prey can smell sunflower stars coming, and research by Dr. Sarah Gravem’s lab has shown that urchins up to 16 feet in every direction from sunflower stars will initiate a fleeing response.

This halo effect creates a landscape of fear, as sunflower stars blaze star tracks through rocky reefs, making urchins podia quake.

Whippo et al. 2024 found that in simulated healthy kelp forest conditions, the smell of sea stars significantly reduced the grazing rates of then-terrified urchins.

is actively growing, researching, and coordinating the recovery of sunflower stars to build resilience in our coastal ecosystems and save our kelp.

If you’d like to support our work, and memes, click the link in our bio or head to sunflowerstarlab.org.

Images of urchins and sunflower star courtesy of