According to preliminary calculations, the area of ​​​​the underwater plantations is from 6 to 7.2 million square kilometers – this is more than the entire Amazon forest and twice that of India. However, these are not exact data. The fact is that information still needs to be collected manually, as satellites cannot track underwater.

Details of the study

There is an incredible variety of flora and fauna in the marine forest. Giant algae stretching tens of meters above, drifting plants, incredible bushes creeping on the bottom, etc. there is. Animal life rages around them – all potentially edible.

Another benefit of algae is that they photosynthesize like all plants and absorb more carbon dioxide as they grow. So even if humans cut down all the forests on land, underwater shrubs will take over at least some of their work.

This map shows the world’s most productive underwater forests, including the Great African Sea Forest and the Great Southern Reef off the southern coast of Australia / Photo The Conversation

The problem is kelp forests are unevenly distributed in the oceans, and the geography of their location is constantly changing.. Algae deaths are currently observed in warm seas, but at the same time, their growth is accelerating in temperate latitudes as the sea warms and becomes ice-free.