For decades, ecosystem stability has been a core focus of ecological research and its applications to conservation and management. Kelp forests are highly dynamic coastal ecosystems that have been crucial study systems for understanding stability and related concepts, such as ecological tipping points, alternative stable states, and metapopulation dynamics. Still, much is unknown about the drivers of stability/instability of kelp forests and the cascading effects on community structure and ecosystem function. This knowledge gap has serious implications as kelp forest ecosystems are increasingly threatened by pressures such as marine heatwaves, and local collapses in kelp forests have been occurring more frequently. This session explores recent empirical and theoretical developments around ecological stability in kelp forest ecosystems across a variety of spatial and temporal scales, and the implications of such findings for understanding ecological stability more broadly. Raine Detmer and Vadim Karatayev will present models on the effects of disturbance and grazing on kelp forest ecosystem states, and how theoretical results compare to long-term empirical data. Sara Hamilton and Tom Bell will show how satellite-based remote sensing can be used to resolve the patterns and causes of kelp forest stability over vast spatial and temporal scales. Karen Filbee-Dexter and Maowei Liang will describe empirical studies on two exciting new themes in the study of kelp forest stability: how ecosystem stability changes near population range edges, and how extreme climate events can restructure biodiversity-stability relationships. Several talks will confront long standing predictions from stability theory with empirical data: (1) Karatayev on herbivore-mediated alternative stable states; (2) Liang on biodiversity-stability relationships; (3) Detmer on disturbance-stability relationships; and (4) Bell on trophic cascades.