[2][3] Durvillaea, commonly known as southern bull kelps, occur on rocky, wave-exposed shorelines and provide a habitat for numerous intertidal organisms.

[4][5] Many species exhibit a honeycomb-like structure in their fronds that provides buoyancy, which allows individuals detached from substrates to raft alive at sea, permitting dispersal for hundreds of days over thousands of kilometres.

[3][6][7] Durvillaea species have been used for clothing, tools and as a food source by many indigenous cultures throughout the South Pacific, and they continue to play a prominent role in Chilean cuisine.

[13] Three species, Durvillaea incurvata, D. antarctica, D. poha are buoyant due to a honeycomb-like structure in the fronds of the kelp that holds air.

[15] Durvillaea bull kelp grow within intertidal and shallow subtidal areas, typically on rocky wave-exposed coastal sites.

[4][5] In New Zealand, species that inhabit Durvillaea include the sea-star Anasterias suteri, crustaceans such as Parawaldeckia kidderi, P. karaka,[5] and the gribbles Limnoria segnis[5] and L. stephenseni, as well as the molluscs Cantharidus roseus, Onchidella marginata,[23] Onithochiton neglectus,[24][5] and Sypharochiton sinclairi,[18][19][20] and the spider Desis marina.

Once detached, buoyant species such as D. antarctica and D. poha can float as rafts, and can travel vast distances at sea, driven by ocean currents.

[6][7] Environmental factors such as temperature, solar radiation and surface winds (all of which vary with latitude) affect buoyancy of southern bull kelp rafts and their rate of travel.

Beachcast, decomposing bull-kelp is colonised and consumed by a wide variety of invertebrates including sandhoppers Bellorchestia quoyana,[30] and kelp flies Chaetocoelopa littoralis.

[41] A marine heatwave in the summer of 2017/18 appears to have caused the local extinction of multiple Durvillaea species at Pile Bay, on the Banks Peninsula.

[42] Earthquake uplift that raises the intertidal zone by as little as 1.5 metres can cause Durvillaea bull kelp to die off in large numbers.

[17] The 2010 Chile earthquake caused significant coastal uplift (~0.2 to 3.1 m), particularly around the Gulf of Arauco, Santa María Island and the Bay of Concepción.

Phylogeographic analyses using mitochondrial COX1 sequence data and genotyping by sequencing data for thousands of anonymous nuclear loci, indicate that a historic uplift event (800 – 1400 years before present) along the fault zone and subsequent recolonisation, has left a lasting impact upon the genetic diversity of the intertidal species D. antarctica and D. poha, but not on the subtidal species D.

[43][44][49] Aerial drone imaging two years after the earthquake indicated that Durvillaea abundance remained low on reefs with significant uplift, but it revealed offshore refuge populations less frequently detected by field researchers.

[49] The researchers argued that the newly formed coastline has not yet been fully recolonised though, and the population structure and genomic diversity of D. antarctica in the Kaikōura region is likely to change over coming decades.

[51] By combining the above genomic and geological evidence, researchers have hypothesised that a small section of coastline at Rarangi was uplifted by one of four major earthquakes between 6000 and 2000 years ago, which was sufficient in height and sudden enough to extirpate the original population of D.

[51] Based on genetic data, the predominantly southern-restricted species D. poha appears to have undergone a recent range expansion into the North Island, as it can be found at low frequencies along the Wellington coastline.

[53] Phylogeographic modelling indicated that bull kelp that survived moderate uplift in the Wellington region (≤2 m) likely recolonised Turakirae Head via two parallel, eastward colonisation events - resulting in the two observed units of population structure.

Time-calibrated phylogenetic trees using mixtures of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA markers have estimated that Durvillaea diverged from other brown algae approximately 20 to 60 million years ago.

D. potatorum was used extensively for clothing and tools by Aboriginal Tasmanians, with uses including material for shoes and bags to transport freshwater and food.

[63] D. antarctica and D. incurvata have been used in Chilean cuisine for salads and stews, predominantly by the Mapuche indigenous people who refer to it as collofe or kollof.

[66][67] The Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998 protects Durvillaea bull kelp from commercial harvesting within the tribe's traditional seaweed-gathering areas.