As foundation species, kelp support productive and species rich communities; however, the effects of kelp structure on mobile species within these complex natural systems are often difficult to assess. We used artificial reefs with transplanted kelp to quantify the influence of kelp patch size and density on fish assemblages including the arrival of recruiting cryptobenthic species. Large patches with dense kelp supported the highest abundance, species richness, and diversity of fishes, with the addition of dense kelp tripling biomass and doubling richness. The abundance of recruits in artificial collectors declined with patch size and was halved on reefs with sparse kelp compared to reefs with dense kelp or no kelp. These results highlight the importance of dense kelp cover in facilitating biodiversity and indicate that kelp addition could support the recovery of degraded coastal ecosystems. Kelp also apparently drives complex interactions affecting the recruitment/behaviour of some cryptobenthic species.

作为基础物种，海带支持生产力高、物种丰富的群落；然而，海带结构对这些复杂自然系统中移动物种的影响往往难以评估。我们使用移植海带的人工鱼礁来量化海带斑块大小和密度对鱼类组合的影响，包括招募隐底栖物种的到来。密集海带的大片斑块支持了鱼类的最高丰度、物种丰富度和多样性，随着密集海带的增加，生物量增加了三倍，丰富度增加了一倍。人工收集器中的新成员数量随着斑块大小的变化而下降，与具有密集海带或无海带的珊瑚礁相比，在具有稀疏海带的珊瑚礁上，新成员的丰度减少了一半。这些结果强调了茂密的海带覆盖对于促进生物多样性的重要性，并表明海带的添加可以支持退化的沿海生态系统的恢复。海带显然还驱动着影响某些隐底栖物种的招募/行为的复杂相互作用。