Smoke on the Water: Uncovering the effects of wildfires on ocean ecosystems

Original story by Grace van Deelen

After January 2025’s Pacific Palisades wildfire burned down through Malibu, CA, to the Pacific Ocean, Wrigley Institute Graduate Fellow Bernie Tolentino was one of the first people into the water.

Tolentino, a Ph.D. student in the marine and environmental biology section of USC’s biological sciences department, was part of a Wrigley Institute-supported group scrambling to collect timely data on how the Palisades and concurrent Eaton fires were affecting ocean ecosystems nearby.

Fire-related pollution in the Pacific came from two sources. First, chemical-laden ash blew out to sea as the fires burned, and huge amounts of it settled on the surface of the ocean. Second, rainstorms soon after the fire washed contaminated soil and other debris down the Palisades burn scars into the San Pedro Channel off Los Angeles.

As a researcher who studies kelp, Tolentino knew this ash and debris could have significant effects on the giant Pacific kelp in the channel. The kelp, a type of macroalgae, is crucial to ocean health. It provides nursery habitat for numerous species, some of them threatened or critically endangered; locks away carbon that would otherwise contribute to global warming; serves as a food source for marine animals; and otherwise contributes to a thriving marine ecosystem.

But with a thick of layer of ash blocking the sunlight and chemicals from runoff polluting the water, the outlook was dire. Fortunately, Tolentino and her colleagues, as well as other local researchers, were ready to help.

Read the rest of the story on the EOS website >>

Related: L.A. Times: Kelp could be among fires’ casualties >>