indirect effect of temperature on sea otters

2005 Oct;35(11-12):1155-68. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpara.2005.07.002. Bookshelf At locations where sea otters were present and sea urchins rare, the lower limits of giant kelp forests extended 3.7 times deeper than they did at locations without sea otters. However, large numbers of sea otters can deplete shellfish populations, competing with fisheries for crabs, clams, and abalones. Wolves provide this kind of temporal subsidy, where theyre making food for scavengers that would be overabundant at one time of year and underabundant at another and smoothing it out, says Wilmers, who tracked Yellowstone wolf packs for four years. The biologist attributed this improvement from their near-extermination just a few years earlier to the states total protection. Small bodies with less surface area don't lose heat faster; it's small bodies with greater surface area relative to their volume that do. The Services assessment reviews the biological, socioeconomic, and legal aspects of reintroduction feasibility and summarizes known information, key data gaps, and stakeholder perspectives. Credit: Nick Higgins. These slugs and snails often don't eat the seagrass; instead they scrape away the algae that grows on the grass, which allows the seagrass to absorb more sunlight and grow more efficiently. Or the tadpoles might grow so fast in warmer water that it is harder for the larvae to capture them. The population at San Nicolas Island remained small for many years because most translocated sea otters had dispersed from the island soon after release, leaving a founding population of only about a dozen animals. Bringing the otters back would bring many ecological benefits, he says, and would also buy us time to get our act together on curbing carbon emissions., Nancy Averett writes about the environment and social science from Cincinnati, Ohio. For instance, many scientists have studied how climate change will affect marine organisms performance and survival. The idea of restoring predators to blunt the impacts of warming has been simmering in ecology for decades. The talks are catered to a wide range of ages and no science background is required. E-mail us atfeedback@sciencenews.org | Reprints FAQ. It could be that warmer conditions slow the larvaes metabolism, prompting the predators to eat less, Rudolf says. The sea otter is the largest otter, reaching 100160 cm (4065 inches) long and weighing 1640 kg (3590 pounds) when fully grown. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZmiqJ12Mms, Autumn 2021 Current Climate Change Research Seminar: IPCC AR6 WG1 Chapter Summaries, Winter 2021 Current Climate Change Research Seminar: A PCC/CHanGE Partnership, Spring 2022 Current Climate Change Research Seminar: IPCC AR6 WG2, Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean, & Ecosystem Studies. Our study highlights the power of trophic cascades in nature and the potential for large predators to ameliorate some of the effects of climate change in the near term, Rasher and his co-authors wrote. "A kelp frond that drifts to the seafloor and decomposes, that carbon might be trapped in the sediments for millennia, even millions of years," says Pearson. 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive Reston, VA 20192, Indirect food web interactions: Sea otters and kelp forest fishes in the Aleutian archipelago, S.E. Medical research advances and health news, The latest engineering, electronics and technology advances, The most comprehensive sci-tech news coverage on the web. Kelp, urchins, carbon, indigenous participation, and reintroduction are part of the answer. We used the overexploitation, recovery and subsequent collapse of sea otter (Enhydra lutris) populations in the Aleutian archipelago to explore if and how the abundance and diet of kelp forest fishes are influenced by a trophic cascade linking sea otters with sea urchins and fleshy macroalgae. Use this form if you have come across a typo, inaccuracy or would like to send an edit request for the content on this page. Sea otters have likely exerted evolutionary and ecological effects on North Pacific eelgrass meadows since at least the mid-Pleistocene (~600 to 700 thousand years ago) (19, 22). Fish and Wildlife Service. These animals were in danger, and state officials knew it. Other marine mammals have high metabolisms to cope with cold water, too, but they also often rely on large bodies and blubber to stay toasty (SN: 12/14/18). PDF Bald Eagles and Sea Otters in the Aleutian Archipelago: Indirect Bringing sea otters back to the Pacific coast pays off, but not for everyone, How kelp forests off California are responding to an urchin takeover, 50 years ago, atomic testing created otter refugees, Heres what we know about upcoming vaccines and antibodies against RSV, Pets and people bonded during the pandemic. Amy Olsen is a second-year masters student of the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs and completed this capstone project for the Graduate Certificate in Climate Science. And a 2020 study found that the monetary benefit of sea otters due their restoration of kelp habitat and associated increase in fish stocks, carbon sequestration, and ecotourism value outweighs the losses to shellfish fisheries. Bald eagles and sea otters in the Aleutian Archipelago: indirect MA-043219 to R. Davis). Sea otters are lean and compact, the smallest mammals in the ocean, bobbing like furry barrels on waves. But since the return of the otters, the eelgrass has expanded by more than sixfold. University of California - Santa Cruz. The digital emissions from this story are an estimated 1.2g to 3.6g CO2 per page view. Sea Otters - Geospatial Ecology of Marine Megafauna Laboratory The PubMed wordmark and PubMed logo are registered trademarks of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). They are a, Digest climate science so that it is accessible to a wide audience, Articulate climate change through an animal lens, Spotlight the multiple ways in which climate change will impact the marine environment, Evaluate whether the science was communicated effectively. Jaime Chambers was a 2021 AAAS Mass Media Fellow with Science News. Many of the changes will occur as a direct result of predation by sea otters; other changes will result from indirect or cascading effects of sea otter foraging, such as increasing kelp production and modified prey availability for other nearshore predators. Bald Eagles depend on nearshore marine communities for most of their prey in this ecosystem, so we predicted that the recent decline in otter populations would have an indirect negative effect on diets and demography of Bald Eagles. MA-043219 to R. Davis), 1719 N Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036, Neuroscientists decoded peoples thoughts using brain scans, Mouse hair turns gray when certain stem cells get stuck, Here are 5 cool findings from a massive project on 240 mammal genomes, Fentanyl deaths have spiked among U.S. children and teens, Satellite data reveal nearly 20,000 previously unknown deep-sea mountains, Thawing permafrost may unleash industrial pollution across the Arctic, Ultrasound reveals trees drought-survival secrets, Seismic waves crossing Mars core reveal details of the Red Planets heart, Rocky planets might have been able to form in the early universe, Cosmic antimatter hints at origins of huge bubbles in our galaxys center, Black holes resolve paradoxes by destroying quantum states, These worms can escape tangled blobs in an instant. This site uses cookies to assist with navigation, analyse your use of our services, collect data for ads personalisation and provide content from third parties. Increases in kelp and seagrass due to sea otters can translate into increased carbon sequestration. Because sea otters (Enhydra lutris) exert a wide array of direct and indirect effects on coastal marine ecosystems throughout their geographic range, we investigated the potential influence of sea otters on the ecology of Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) in the Aleutian Islands, Alaska, USA. Wilmers et al., 2012 In the mid-1980s, the two islands with high-density otter populations supported dense kelp forests, relatively few urchins, and abundant rock greenling whereas the opposite pattern (abundant urchins, sparse kelp forests, and relatively few rock greenling) occurred at islands where otters were rare. HHS Vulnerability Disclosure, Help By using our site, you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Privacy Policy Large areas that had been alive for centuries or millennia were crumbling and bleached, indicating urchins had recently killed them. As sea otters have been reintroduced or naturally recovered in other coastal areas of North America, they have substantially disturbed the structure and dynamics of nearshore food. Some of these effects are perceived as beneficial to people, and others are perceived as negative. disaster), and due to their own self reporting of knowledge, many were relatively well-versed in what climate change is. (1977a) identified several interaction web pathways by which sea otters might influence the behavior and population biology of kelp forest fishes, including direct And the insulating properties of sea otters fur the densest on the planet cant fully protect them from losing too much heat. Clipboard, Search History, and several other advanced features are temporarily unavailable. Fifteen years ago Christopher Wilmers, a wildlife ecologist now at the University of California, Santa Cruz, published studies looking at how warmer winters in Yellowstone National Park meant fewer elk foundering in deep snow and dying. Nest use dynamics of an undisturbed population of bald eagles. For general feedback, use the public comments section below (please adhere to guidelines). By consuming sea urchins who are not similarly hidden, sea otters change sea urchin behavior. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Kelp forests have been found to sequester, or hold onto, carbon in the marine environment. Unauthorized use of these marks is strictly prohibited. Sea otters can greatly affect the environment they live in. For general inquiries, please use our contact form. The far-sightedness of the MMPA is only beginning to be realized. Since then, conservation efforts have allowed the otters to rebound somewhat, but some 2,500 miles (4,000km) of coastline in their historic range is still devoid of the furry mammals. The presentations needed to be accessible, with no jargon and no assumptions that the audience has any background knowledge in what they are speaking about. "But animals the world over, working in different ways to influence the carbon cycle, might actually have a large impact. Carbon prices have climbed since then, recently exceeding 60 (51/$71) a tonne, which would bring that estimate even higher in today's market. Rising ocean temperatures and acidification are compounding the damage. She delights in all things creeping, crawling and curious, and studies human-dog coevolution as an anthropology Ph.D. student at Washington State University. They found that otters 'undoubtedly' have a strong influence on the cycle of CO2 storage." "Comparing kelp density with otters and kelp density without otters, they found that 'sea otters have a positive indirect effect on kelp biomass by preying on sea urchins, a kelp grazer.'
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