Global Kelp Biomass Timeseries from NCEAS/KEEN Meta-Analysis

A global meta-analysis documents seasonal and interannual variability in reef-based kelp communities. Temporal trends in kelp biomass, stipe density, percent cover, and density change rates are measured across ecoregions in global temperate zones. The data is supplied by the Australian Ocean Data Network in both raw taxon-level and aggregated site-level formats.

Use Cases

• Model kelp biomass trends over time based on the described time-series data.
• Analyze seasonal variability in kelp community structure based on the described percent cover and stipe density metrics.
• Compare kelp density change rates across different global temperate ecoregions as mentioned in the description.

Strengths

• Data is provided in two structured formats: a raw long table and an aggregated time-series table.
• Measures multiple ecological variables: biomass, stipe density, percent cover, and rates of density change.
• Covers a global scope across various temperate zone ecoregions.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and dataset scale are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

NCEAS/KEEN Working Group, aggregated by Australian Ocean Data Network.

Collection Method

Global meta-analysis of kelp community observations.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-04 07:04:41.522358; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global temperate zones across various ecoregions.