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.

386 citizens recorded 6814 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 Laminaria ochroleuca Bachelot de la Pylaie
Unknown Marine forest species
Red Algae Melobesia minutula Foslie
Dictyota fasciola Dictyota fasciola (Roth) J.V.Lamouroux
MHNE1_RSS7m270311MiddleHdNE (12).JPG Marine Forests Species
Unknown Marine forest species
Unknown Marine forest species
JBMP-S26_10_4m160309OuterTubes_AJG (1).jpg Ecklonia radiata (C.Agardh) J.Agardh
Unknown Marine Forests Species
BR3DTL15m030113 Auckland(4).JPG Marine Forests Species
JBMP10_STN_5m020508BlenheimsBeach (1).JPG Ecklonia radiata (C.Agardh) J.Agardh
SYD49_6m290309Fairlight_GJE (8).JPG Marine Forests 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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