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Abstract
Kelp forests are present across a quarter of all coastlines and are essential vegetated ecosystems. These ecosystems are susceptible to extreme events and climate change, but also modify the physics of in the water column and, consequently, the biogeochemistry and ecology. Although scientists have understood the importance of kelp forests and have studied these domains extensively both in the field and in the laboratory, these studies only provide snapshots or isolated views of kelp forest dynamics. More recently, ocean modeling efforts have been made to address the spatial and temporal variability of the dynamics of these ecosystems, especially for understanding the interaction of nearshore currents and changes in the biogeochemistry in the water column. However, to date kelp forests have not been fully incorporated in to couped hydrodynamic-biogeochemical models. In this dissertation, I develop a 3-D hydrodynamic model for kelp forests in a regional ocean model, add a biogeochemistry model that represents the primary process for kelp forests, and demonstrate the impact of stressors on kelp forests and the effects on local physics and biogeochemistry.