Marine Forests : Important Habitats Worldwide

Macroalgae, plants and animals like corals and sponges create complex habitats that provide resources, shelter and nursery grounds for many marine organisms.

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Macroalgae

Forests of macroalgae are mainly formed by large brown algae such as kelp or fucoids, but also by red and green algae (© Douglas Klug).

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Seagrass meadows

Seagrasses are plants that evolved and adapted to live in the sea. They have roots, leafs and produce flowers and fruits (© Manu Sanfelix).

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Animal gardens

Marine animal forests are mostly formed by invertebrates that live attached to rock, such as coral reefs and gorgonian gardens (© NOAA).

Help the world monitoring Marine Forests

Citizens are contributing with records of seaweed, seagrass, corals, sponges and other forest-forming species to reach worldwide maps with distribution records.

363 citizens recorded 6742 occurrences of marine forests!

Explore all records Add photos taken underwater or at low tide. Or add records from bibliography, herbaria and museums. Just provide the date and location, no need to identify the species if you can't. The information will be available for everyone in the world!

Random records from our community

Unknown Fucus Linnaeus
JBMPA27ASMS5_4m260310GLongnosePtS2 (6).JPG Marine Forests Species
CHMP8_ATC5m050211IronPrince.JPG Marine Forests Species
Enteromorpha sp. Enteromorpha Link
Green Algae Ulva rigida C.Agardh
14BB5m181110WestLongnosePointBlockD(5).JPG Ecklonia radiata (C.Agardh) J.Agardh
BMP-S37WCB5.1MBrouleeIsSouth130112 (5).JPG Marine Forests Species
Unknown Cystoseira C.Agardh
Red Algae Grateloupia imbricata Holmes
Unknown Marine forest species
Unknown Desmophyllum dianthus (Esper
Unknown Marine forest species
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Reef Life Survey Data

Project Reef Life Survey (RLS) made a partnership with marineforests.com and provided thousands of underwater pictures.
Records of reef biodiversity were taken by trained volunteer SCUBA divers under standardised scientific surveys all around the world.
Help us in identifying which pictures have marine forests.
Image © Vlad Karpinskiy. All rights reserved.
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Scientific team and support

Project 'Marine Forests' is supported by scientists and volunteer citizens from all around the world.

WoRMS (World Register of Marine Species) provides free access to its database in the entries of species names.

Funding by the Pew Charitable Trusts (USA) and also by Biodiversa (EU), Euromarine, and national science funding agencies of scientists throughout the world (including Formas, Naturvardsverket, ANR, FCT, MEC, FRCT, DFG).
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