Kelps are ecosystem engineers, which collectively form forests that provide a variety of important ecosystem services for humans and other organisms. Kelp forests are threatened by multiple local and global stressors, one of the most notable is herbivory. Overabundant sea; urchins can consume kelp, leading to a phase shift from productive forests to unproductive; rocky barrens. Reducing sea urchin densities by directly removing them can reverse this; phase shift. However, maintaining low densities of sea urchins, is logistically and financially; challenging. Following a review of herbivore exclusion methods to date, we tested the efficacy of three different methods for excluding sea urchins from kelp in the laboratory: flexible fences; electricity; and copper anti-fouling paint. The results from the laboratory; experiment showed that flexible fencing was the most successful method for excluding sea urchins. To test the efficacy of this method in the field, sea urchins were removed from 1m² patches in barrens and intact kelp beds, and the effectiveness of flexible fences of two different heights (30 cm and 60 cm) at excluding sea urchins were tested. The results from the field study demonstrated that flexible fences of both heights were effective at maintaining low sea urchin densities in barrens but not in intact kelp beds, relative to unmanipulated; rocky barrens. These findings suggest that flexible fencing could be an important tool in restoring kelp in barrens, however the costs of fencing are likely to place limits on the scale at which this management strategy can be implemented.

海藻是生态系统工程师，它们共同形成森林，为人类和其他生物提供各种重要的生态系统服务。海带森林受到多种本地和全球压力源的威胁，其中最值得注意的压力源之一是食草性压力源。海量过剩；海胆可以消耗海带，导致森林从生产性森林转变为非生产性森林；岩石贫瘠之地。通过直接去除海胆来降低海胆密度可以扭转这一局面；相移。然而，保持海胆的低密度在后勤和经济上都是困难的；具有挑战性的。在回顾了迄今为止的草食动物排除方法后，我们在实验室中测试了三种不同方法从海带中排除海胆的效果：柔性围栏；电;和铜防污漆。实验室结果；实验表明，柔性围栏是排除海胆最成功的方法。为了在野外测试该方法的有效性，在荒芜且完整的海带床上去除1m ²斑块中的海胆，并测试了两种不同高度（30cm和60cm）的柔性围栏排除海胆的有效性。现场研究的结果表明，相对于未操作的情况，两种高度的柔性围栏都可以有效地维持贫瘠地区的低海胆密度，但在完整的海带床上却无效；岩石贫瘠之地。这些发现表明，灵活的围栏可能是恢复贫瘠地区海带的重要工具，但围栏的成本可能会限制这种管理策略的实施规模。