Growth of Macrocystis integrifolia in Barkley Sound, Vancouver Island, B.C.

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Abstract
Stipe elongation rates were measured over an 18-month period which included one normal summer and one in which there was unusually heavy epiphytism and defoliation. Calculated standard growth rates (G) followed atypical boreal pattern, rising in February through April, with a summer maximum of ca. 40 mm/day, and falling in October and November. This contrasts with M. pyrifera in southern California, which has G ca. 70 mm/day throughout the year. The maximum number of fronds that could be produced in the growing season by a frond series of M. integrifolia is about 20, but the number actually produced is 8; many frond initials are lost through grazing or abrasion or may be suppressed by high frond densities.