However, large numbers of sea otters can deplete shellfish populations, competing with fisheries for crabs, clams, and abalones. 2015 Mar;177(3):645-655. doi: 10.1007/s00442-014-3149-6. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. By the time the International Fur Seal Treaty was ratified in 1911, prohibiting the hunting of sea otters in international waters, only 13 remnant populations, each numbering an estimated 10100 animals, survived globally. With no otters around, sea urchins graze voraciously on living kelp. The caloric value of sea otters compares with a range of 0.78 to 3.55 kcal gm -1 of wet weight for fish and other marine mammals that make up the killer whale diet. Metabolism describes how food gets converted into energy in cells. Before the fur trade, the range of sea otters spanned the entire North Pacific rim, from the northern islands of Japan to midway down the Pacific Coast of Baja California, Mexico. I worked with each of the speakers individually to highlight that our audience tends to be very diverse, with multiple backgrounds, education levels, ages and experiences. The sea otters keystone role in nearshore marine ecosystems was first recognized in 1974, initiating an extensive body of work on sea otters indirect effects, including increases in the abundance of kelp-associated finfish. However, we do not guarantee individual replies due to the high volume of messages. Otters are responsible for the protection of the underwater ecosystem of Elkhorn Slough, a river estuary located near the Monterey Bay. But since the return of the otters, the eelgrass has expanded by more than sixfold. Tour routes of great scenic drives on National Wildlife Refuges. In kelp forest systems, the influences of trophic interactions between sea otters and their prey spread through the interaction web via several pathways. A. Estes, C.A. CO2 concentration in the atmosphere has increased 40 percent since the beginning of the industrial revolution, causing global temperatures to rise, the authors write. With one of their main natural predators absent for so long, abalone could be found exposed on rocks instead of hidden in crevices, sometimes piled several animals deep. In 2020, the Seattle Aquarium transitioned its Lightning Talk event to a virtual format. The story was also updated July 23, 2021, to correct the description of otters' proton leaks. This puts them at a high potential for heat loss, especially because, unlike most marine mammals, sea otters do not have blubber to insulate them. Kelp forests have been found to sequester, or hold onto, carbon in the marine environment. Incorporating it would offer a clearer picture of what a warmer future holds in store. "So I'm talking sea grasses, marshes and mangroves those are going to be the big three carbon sequestration habitats, in my opinion.". 2018 Jun 27;8(15):7346-7354. doi: 10.1002/ece3.4259. 1982, Estes and Duggins 1995, Watson and Estes 2011, Burt et al. University of California - Santa Cruz. 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.' Although these ecological discoveries are relatively recent, the relationships between sea otters and other organisms in the nearshore North Pacific, with whom they coevolved for millions of years, are ancient. Fish and Wildlife Service. 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 foodwebs. Then, using a device called a respirometer, researchers measured otter muscle cells respiratory capacity in different states of oxygen flow compared with other animals including humans, Iditarod sled dogs and elephant seals. Kelp, urchins, carbon, indigenous participation, and reintroduction are part of the answer. Sea otters lack the blubber and large body size that help other marine mammals survive frigid ocean temperatures. Acknowledging the benefits of occupying this land, the Library commits to becoming a more welcoming space for Indigenous Peoples by centring Indigenous voices in our collections, services, and programs. Based on the December 2012 price on the European Carbon Exchange ($47 [36] per tonne of carbon), Estes' paper that year estimated that sea otter presence in their North Pacific study area was worth up to $408m (296m). At 2012 prices (US$47 per ton of C . The 1969 blowout of Union Oil's Platform A off the coast of Santa Barbara sparked the modern environmental movement, leading to the passage of several crucial pieces of federal legislation, including the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (MMPA) and the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA). Careers. sea otter, (Enhydra lutris), also called great sea otter, completely marine otter species of the northern Pacific, usually found in kelp beds. And in both these ecosystems, otters might have the added benefit of storing carbon. Question: A marine biologist wants to test the effect of water temperature on the average dive duration for sea otters. Click on the following key terms used on this web page to see their definitions on the glossary page: Sign up to receive our monthly email updates. Such devastation underscores the urgency of restoring balance to the ecosystem by bringing the otters back. It was 1742. Even before the sea otter effect was studied, kelp has been thought of as a possible climate solution. They note that markets have been established in Europe and the United States to trade carbon credits and thus inject an economic incentive into either reducing CO2 output or increasing CO2 sequestration. I believe the speakers did an amazing job at articulating climate change through an animal lens, and they highlighted multiple ways that climate change will impact the marine environment and how sea otters can help mitigate those changes. Her work has appeared in Audubon, Sierra, Discover, and elsewhere. See how sea otters maintain the balance of kelp-forest ecosystems by consuming sea urchins, Wild Words from the Animal Kingdom Vocabulary Quiz, This article was most recently revised and updated by, Abundant Animals: The Most Numerous Organisms in the World, Falling Stars: 10 of the Most Famous Endangered Species, https://www.britannica.com/animal/sea-otter, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Accessibility Ocean acidification (OA) is another climate-induced process that could indirectly impact sea otters. 2018). "They have this little radula that gently scrapes [the seagrass] and takes off all the epiphytes growing on it. The most widely studied and well-known pathway is from sea otters to herbivorous macroinvertebrates (primarily urchins) to kelp and other macroalgae (Estes and Palmisano 1974, Duggins 1980, Breen et al. Sea otters, the "keystone predator" of Aleutian Islands' kelp forests, experienced dramatic population declines in the 1990s. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Oecologia. Evidence of this coevolution may be seen in the bodies of animals, like abalone, today. However, sea otters could still be indirectly affected via impacts to their prey. In 1915, a California Department of Fish and Game biologist reported sightings by local residents of up to 32 sea otters at any one time. Oecologia. Kelp, urchins, carbon, indigenous participation, and reintroduction are part of the answer. Instead of roving about and attacking the holdfasts that anchor living kelp to the rocky ocean floor, creating urchin barrens, fearful sea urchins adopt a sit-and-wait strategy, hiding in deep crevices and eating only those pieces of kelp that break off and drift down. Your email address is used only to let the recipient know who sent the email. In the absence of sea otters, these areas would have an NPP of 25-70 g C m 2 yr 1 and biomass density of 8-14 g C m 2. The two losses are connected. "It is significant because it shows that animals can have a big influence on the carbon cycle," said Wilmers, assistant professor of environmental studies. R Soc Open Sci. Wilmers et al., 2012 This can be done in a creative and captivating way, leaving audiences with one or two main take away points. They wanted to learn about how they can help, to feel inspired, and to connect with other like-minded people. The intent was to create a second population that could provide sea otters to replenish the mainland range in the event of a catastrophic oil spill. eCollection 2018 Sep. Wilson TL, Schmidt JH, Mangipane BA, Kolstrom R, Bartz KK. Sea otters are also the smallest marine mammal in the northern hemisphere. The result was less early-winter carrion for the parks many scavengers, such as grizzly bears and ravens, with dead elk bunching up at the end of relatively severe winters. They found that otters "undoubtedly have a strong influence" on the cycle of CO2 storage. Epub 2014 Nov 22. Sea urchins even stick around after slashing through kelp beds. devouring the massive, slow-forming limestone reefs, warmer winters in Yellowstone National Park, Social Capital in Black Communities Is Often Overlooked, How Starting Brush Fires Could Save Africa's Disappearing Lions, Do Animals Really Anticipate Earthquakes? Updates? Our results provide further evidence of the wide-ranging indirect effects of sea otter predation on nearshore marine communities and another apex predator, the Bald Eagle. Please select the most appropriate category to facilitate processing of your request. Ocean Sciences Building, Box 355351 Seattle, WA 98195, uwpcc@uw.edu In 2012, a team of ecologists including Estes published a study on the potential for sea otter carbon sequestration in the North Pacific between the Aleutian archipelago and Vancouver Island. One of the easiest ways that anyone can support bird habitat conservation is by buying duck stamps. Many of the participants equated the term climate change negatively (i.e. Invest in quality science journalism by donating today. We used the overexploitation, recovery and subsequent collapse of sea otter (Enhydra lutris) populations in t In general, currents carry warm water from . When the mustelids bring down the numbers of crabs, grazing organisms that the crabs eat rebound. In fact, every species that feeds on these relatively chemically undefended macroalgae of the North Pacific may owe a debt to sea otters. But reintroducing otters is not a win for everyone. Although the indirect effects of sea otters are widely known, this example is unique because the food-web pathway transcended five species and several trophic levels in . Several otters are available for an experiment. In 2020, echoing language of the MMPA, the U.S. Congress recognized that sea otters play a critical ecological role in the marine environment as a keystone species that significantly affects the structure structure Something temporarily or permanently constructed, built, or placed; and constructed of natural or manufactured parts including, but not limited to, a building, shed, cabin, porch, bridge, walkway, stair steps, sign, landing, platform, dock, rack, fence, telecommunication device, antennae, fish cleaning table, satellite dish/mount, or well head. But how much carbon from kelp is sequestered is still unknown. Sea otters help ecosystems capture carbon from the atmosphere and store it as biomass and deep-sea detritus, preventing it from being converted back to carbon dioxide and contributing to climate change. They will remain accessible to anyone who wants to watch them in the future. Our field studies were conducted in the early 1990s, 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. Sea otters can greatly affect the environment they live in. Rudolf created four habitats with pond water at present-day temperatures and four with heated pond water. For general feedback, use the public comments section below (please adhere to guidelines). Indirect effects and prey behavior mediate interactions between an endangered prey and recovering predator. The far-sightedness of the MMPA is only beginning to be realized. That message is loud and clear, and just brilliant, Williams says. But owners were still stressed and lonely. are a small mammal in the weasel family. Leaks in the energy-generating parts of muscle cells help otters maintain a resting metabolism three times as fast as predicted for a creature their size, researchers report in the July 9 Science. Although abalone are a favorite prey item, they make up only a small proportion of the diet of the sea otter population overall, the remainder consisting of several dozen species of marine invertebrates, including many kinds of crabs, clams, sea urchins, mussels, chitons, octopuses, sea stars, and marine worms. 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. When otters are around, sea urchins hide in crevices and eat kelp scraps. A lock () or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. Int J Parasitol. Simenstad. Our results provide further evidence of the wide-ranging indirect effects of sea otter predation on nearshore marine communities and another apex predator, the Bald Eagle. Neither your address nor the recipient's address will be used for any other purpose. By the submission of this blog, there were 1,336 views. Despite high attrition, reintroductions using translocated wild sea otters have resulted in about 35% of global sea otter abundance. Restoring otter populations could rein in the urchins and help protect the larger ecosystem, and ecologists are increasingly interested in applying this idea more broadly. Water transfers heat 23 times as efficiently as air, and small bodies with greater surface area relative to their volume lose heat faster, even when covered in fluff. Wright and colleagues searched for the heat source in otters muscles. That means it's pulling carbon from the atmosphere faster than a slower growing plant (though kelp is technically an alga). 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. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the This document is subject to copyright. Springer-Verlag 2005. When kelp dies, it tends to stay buoyant until those little floats break down. After wolves were reintroduced in 1995, though, they became the main cause of elk mortality and created a steadier carrion supply that helped sustain other animals throughout the cold months. They are a keystone species, which means they have a big impact on keeping their ecosystem balanced. Jaime Chambers was a 2021 AAAS Mass Media Fellow with Science News. www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1890/110176. Ecosystem Effects of Sea Otters . An official website of the United States government. In addition to kelp forests, otters' effect on seagrasses may also benefit the climate. 1991 Aug;33(4):395-453. doi: 10.1080/15287399109531537. The ocean is a vast, continuous fluid. sharing sensitive information, make sure youre on a federal If sea otters return, however, their feasting can put the herbivores in check and allow the kelp to flourish once again. Staff login, Expand Climate Minor Testing Page Section. A version of this article appears in the August 14, 2021 issue of Science News. The captured prey is eaten at sea while the otter swims on its back. Quantifying the effect of otters might help ease some of the impacts to fisheries. While scuba diving around the Aleutian Islands in 2014, marine ecologist Doug Rasher saw little sign of the curtains of lush green kelp forests he would have had to push through decades earlier. We dont know if this is inherent, Wright says, or if this is something that quickly comes on after birth as a means of generating heat on demand.. Sea otters can greatly affect the environment they live in. The .gov means its official. The survey itself showed that people learned something new that they had not known before. (1977a) identified several interaction web pathways by which sea otters might influence the behavior and population biology of kelp forest fishes, including direct of carbon sequestration through their positive indirect effect on kelp (Wilmers et al., 2012). Simenstad et al. Effects of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill that the number of potential indirect interactions is vastly greater than the number of potential direct interactions in all but the simplest interaction webs (Estes et al. Mitigating increased CO2 in the atmosphere is a pressing issue in global environmental conservation with many obstacles and no easy solutions, the authors write. I believe my capstone project was successful in accomplishing all of the learning objectives. The key to that difference has to do with sea otters' voracious appetites. The Lightning Talks: Sea Otters event occurred on Earth Day, 4/22/2021 from 6-7pm PT on YouTube Live. Although trophic cascades - the effect of apex predators on progressively lower trophic level species through top-down forcing - have been demonstrated in diverse ecosystems, the broader potential influences of trophic cascades on other species and ecosystem processes are not well studied. Your support enables us to keep our content free and accessible to the next generation of scientists and engineers. Large species within carnivora are large carnivores. The influence of sea otters on coastal ecosystems is one of the most well-known and well-documented examples of a trophic cascade (the complex network of consumer-prey interactions, from apex predators at the top of the food web to plants at the bottom). Rudolf, Wilmers and Rasher all say their work shows that future climate change research needs to factor in ecosystem complexity more effectively. Their massive appetites can diminish fishing opportunities for commercial operations and subsistence-based Indigenous communities. To me, this is probably one of the clearest pieces of evidence saying, Heres how they did it, Williams says. The information you enter will appear in your e-mail message and is not retained by Phys.org in any form. Conrad PA, Miller MA, Kreuder C, James ER, Mazet J, Dabritz H, Jessup DA, Gulland F, Grigg ME. Get great science journalism, from the most trusted source, delivered to your doorstep. Read about our approach to external linking. The Services assessment reviews the biological, socioeconomic, and legal aspects of reintroduction feasibility and summarizes known information, key data gaps, and stakeholder perspectives. The Lightning Talks: Sea Otters event occurred on Earth Day, 4/22/2021 from 6-7pm PT on YouTube Live. We quantified the indirect effects of sea otter recovery on copper rockfish (Sebastes caurinus) and kelp greenling (Hexagrammos decagrammos) along a gradient in sea otter occupation time on the central coast of British Columbia. non-prey species . Unauthorized use of these marks is strictly prohibited. Sea otters were not affected by oil from the Santa Barbara spill because they had not recovered their range that far south. A new study shows how the high metabolism of adult and baby sea otters begins at the cellular level. Aboard the ship Svyatoy Petr (Saint Peter), Vitus Berings second Kamchatka expedition foundered in storms and wrecked near an uninhabited island, later named after Bering himself, who was buried there. And it could lead to new insights into how the ancestors of these creatures first evolved to live and thrive in the seas. These lightning talk events are widely accessible to all with an internet connection. The ban on hunting in international waters did little good for southern sea otters in nearshore waters, which were administered by the state, and by then sea otter skins were selling for more than $1,500 each, about $44,000 in todays dollars. Sea otters high leak capacity is not necessarily what theyre running all the time, Wright says, but probably can be activated when otters need to generate more warmth. 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. Skeletal muscle makes up 40 to 50 percent of most mammals body mass, so it affects the whole bodys metabolism. But if those protons leak back over the membrane before being used for work, that energy is lost as heat. Some authorities also consider the marine otter (Lontra felina), a species that lives along the rocky Pacific coast of South America, to be a type of sea otter, because it hunts in shoreline and nearshore ocean areas, preying on crabs and other marine invertebrates. The Seattle Aquarium lightning talks are recorded and available to watch for free on YouTube. Most of the participants go so far as to consider climate impacts when they make decisions in their personal lives. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1449240174198-2'); }); A new study by two UC Santa Cruz researchers suggest that a thriving sea otter population that keeps sea urchins in check will in turn allow kelp forests to prosper. Because of sea otters role in protecting kelp forests, they impact the lives of not just abalone but hundreds of other species that depend on the shelter, food, or substrate provided by kelp. Over an ecosystem area of approximately 5.1 10 10 m 2, the effect of sea otter predation on living kelp biomass alone represents a 4.4-to 8.7-teragram increase in C storage. I think were all coming to realize that theres going to be a lot of synergies between species loss and climate change, says Hillary Young, an ecologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who was not involved in the new study. 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. Scientists already knew sea otters rely on an extreme metabolism to maintain, on average, a 37 Celsius body temperature, eating 25 percent of their body mass in food every day (SN: 6/13/14).. The find shows how otters meet the challenge of staying warm at sea and could apply to other marine mammals, too. who points to the many indirect effects warmer temperatures . When present, sea otters eat so many urchins that the invertebrate's population stays low. Rocks are typically used to break open crabs and other shellfish, whereas sea urchins are crushed with the forefeet and teeth. The final registration number was 1,005 people. Few other animals eat as much relative to their weight or play such a pivotal role in maintaining their environment, says Brent Hughes, a marine ecologist studying coastal habitats at Sonoma State University in California. The talks are catered to a wide range of ages and no science background is required. Sea otters were hunted to the brink in the 19th Century fur trade, but their numbers have been slowly recovering since. The emissions from travel it took to report this story were 0kg CO2. It inhabits coastal waters from the Kuril Islands to the Aleutian Islands southward to the coast of California. 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. These lightning talk events are widely accessible to all with an internet connection. Sea otters were once widespread across coastal waters in the Northern Pacific Ocean, from Baja California to Alaska, all the way to rocky reefs in Russia and Japan.
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