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🌿 Kelp Forest Growth and Collapse

Interactive 3D underwater kelp forest where users adjust nutrient levels, sea urchin population and water temperature to watch the kelp canopy grow, thin, or collapse into an urchin barren.

Ecology & Conservation Biology3DModerate60 FPS💧 Water

An interactive 3D underwater kelp forest: adjust nutrient supply, sea urchin population and water temperature to watch a lush kelp canopy grow, thin under grazing pressure, or collapse into a bare urchin barren.

🔬 What It Demonstrates

Kelp growth depends on nutrients and cold water, while sea urchin grazing removes kelp tissue. When grazing outpaces growth, kelp cover collapses and can settle into a self-sustaining urchin barren — a classic ecological tipping point.

🎮 How to Use

Raise nutrients and lower temperature to help the forest grow. Increase the urchin population or raise the temperature to trigger thinning and collapse. Watch the canopy-cover and ecosystem-state readouts update live.

💡 Did You Know?

Sea otters, a keystone predator of urchins, help keep Pacific kelp forests healthy — where otters vanished from overhunting, urchin barrens spread across huge stretches of coastline.

⚙ Under the hood

Interactive 3D underwater kelp forest where adjusting nutrient levels, urchin population and water temperature shows how the forest grows dense or collapses into barrens.

kelp-forestmarine-ecologyurchin-barrensocean-ecosystemspopulation-dynamicsclimate-stressecology

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install