indirect effect of temperature on sea otters

Despite high attrition, reintroductions using translocated wild sea otters have resulted in about 35% of global sea otter abundance. The Service terminated the translocation program and its associated zones in 2012. However, sea otters could still be indirectly affected via impacts to their prey. 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. By this time, several generations of Californians had lived and died in a world essentially devoid of sea otters. This can be done in a creative and captivating way, leaving audiences with one or two main take away points. "They have this little radula that gently scrapes [the seagrass] and takes off all the epiphytes growing on it. The author granted permission for the file to be printed and for the text to be copied and pasted. They wanted to learn about how they can help, to feel inspired, and to connect with other like-minded people. 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. Wilmers and Estes acknowledge that a spreading otter population won't solve the problem of higher CO2 in the atmosphere but argue that the restoration and protection of otters is an example how managing animal populations can affect ecosystems abilities to sequester carbon. MeSH These include increasing or decreasing prey, changing competitive abilities, shifting feeding rates and altering trophic cascades. Our fish studies focused on rock greenling (Hexagrammos lagocephalus), the numerically dominant species in this region. The other is a metabolism more than double that of any land mammal of the same size. Otters' indirect effects on coastal ecosystems can also follow pathways other than the otter-urchin-kelp trophic cascade. Neither your address nor the recipient's address will be used for any other purpose. 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. 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).. It feels like a ghost town, says Rasher, a researcher at the nonprofit Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences. non-prey species . 4. Carbon that is thus sequestered prevented from entering the atmosphere for 100 or more years can be key to addressing the climate crisis. Sea otters have voracious appetites, eating about a quarter of their body weight every day (Credit: Getty Images). It is published by the Society for Science, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) membership organization dedicated to public engagement in scientific research and education (EIN 53-0196483). 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. The southern sea otter has reclaimed only about 13% of its historical range, and its population size is far below its estimated historical population size in California, about 17,000 (though it could be as low as 10,000 or as high as 30,000), a number that does not include the historical populations in Oregon and Baja California. Registration occurred through the Seattle Aquarium website, and was advertised in multiple ways (facebook ads, Seattle Aquarium members, staff and volunteers, UW SMEA department listserv, UW PCC listserv, etc). One of the easiest ways that anyone can support bird habitat conservation is by buying duck stamps. Read about our approach to external linking. Sea otters were hunted to the brink in the 19th Century fur trade, but their numbers have been slowly recovering since. 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. 2018 Jun 27;8(15):7346-7354. doi: 10.1002/ece3.4259. Sea otters, the "keystone predator" of Aleutian Islands' kelp forests, experienced dramatic population declines in the 1990s. Everything we know about ecology is that as things get more complex, they change, Rudolf says. 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. The population off Big Sur was the most isolated of all of these, separated from any other surviving sea otters by about 2,000 miles. In 1911, most Californians werent thinking about sea otters. 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. These animals were in danger, and state officials knew it. 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. But how much carbon from kelp is sequestered is still unknown. Overall, indirect effects of temperature via changes in viscosity were subtle in comparison to the indirect effect of temperature via trophic interactions. Large areas that had been alive for centuries or millennia were crumbling and bleached, indicating urchins had recently killed them. Simenstad. Only a handful remained. 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 find shows how otters meet the challenge of staying warm at sea and could apply to other marine mammals, too. HHS Vulnerability Disclosure, Help 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. She has also written for Science,Massive ScienceandAsk Dr. Universe, a science column for kids. A handpicked selection of stories fromBBC Future,Culture,Worklife,TravelandReeldelivered to your inbox every Friday. On June 20, 1938, Life magazine published a photo of what it called one of the rarest sights on eartha large raft of sea otters near Bixby Bridge, south of Monterey. 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. (1977a) identified several interaction web pathways by which sea otters might influence the behavior and population biology of kelp forest fishes, including direct In 1913, California declared the sea otter a fully protected mammal. That designation made it a high misdemeanor to kill or possess them. Bookshelf Using data on the rate of kelp growth and its density at sites with and without otters, they found that the presence of sea otters across rocky reef habitat in the study area, covering 51,551 . This has provided a natural gradient of sea otter occupation time across 20 different sites that allowed us to examine the direct and indirect effects of sea otter recovery. And for the most part, they were right. The large hind feet are broad and flipperlike. Sea otters are a shallow-water species, spending their lives within depths where they can reach the bottom for food, so the sea otters range tends to hug the coastline, visible to and easily within reach of hunters. In kelp forest systems, the influences of trophic interactions between sea otters and their prey spread through the interaction web via several pathways. The survey itself showed that people learned something new that they had not known before. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Another challenge faced by sea otters is the need to obtain enough calories to fuel their extremely high metabolic rates, which requires that sea otters consume the equivalent of 20-25% of their . Among their favorite foods are sea urchins, which are easy to catch and dense in calories. Whereas urchin-dominated communities supported more diverse fish assemblages than kelp-dominated communities, this was not a simple effect of the otter-induced trophic cascade because all islands supported more diverse fish assemblages in 2000 than in the mid-1980s. What participants desired most out of the event was to learn and connect. Many of the participants equated the term climate change negatively (i.e. MA-043219 to R. Davis). By Lilian Carswell, Southern Sea Otter Recovery and Marine Conservation Coordinator,Ventura Fish and Wildlife Office, People traveling on Californias newly built Highway 1 in 1937 saw something astonishing. Epub 2014 Nov 22. 2018 Sep 12;5(9):181228. doi: 10.1098/rsos.181228. Epub 2019 Dec 19. 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. Its in their muscles. Skeletal muscle makes up 40 to 50 percent of most mammals body mass, so it affects the whole bodys metabolism. (C) duration (sec) Otter Water J2 J1 B7 B9 M3 D4 B8 4 8 8 12 12 16 20 y 63 75 84 91 101 110 115 We want to determine if water temperature is useful The spreading kelp can. Floating on its back, it opens mollusks by smashing them on a stone balanced on its chest. Far below their vantage point at the edge of the rugged Big Sur cliffs, tossed on rough waters, was a cluster of buoyant, dark forms. Effects of predator depletion or recovery are frequently accompanied by time lags, which are often context-dependent. 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. 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. Thanks for reading Scientific American. "But animals the world over, working in different ways to influence the carbon cycle, might actually have a large impact. While some Native peoples within the sea otters range had traditionally conducted local hunting of sea otters, the scale of slaughter in the maritime fur trade was unprecedented, nearly eliminating sea otters from their global range. This higher quality food allowed abalone species to attain much larger body sizes than those found in other oceans, where the herbivores do not have similarly effective predators. Subscribers, enter your e-mail address for full access to the Science News archives and digital editions. A lock () or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. Floating on its back, it opens mollusks by smashing them on a stone balanced on its chest. An official website of the United States government. Sea otters (Enhydra lutris) are a small mammal in the weasel family. T. Wright et al. Temperature-dependent viscosity had a significant effect on the carrying capacity and growth rates of consumers, as well as the average density of the top predator. 2023 Scientific American, a Division of Springer Nature America, Inc. In California's Elkhorn Slough estuary, eelgrass had nearly disappeared by the early 1980s due to declining water quality nutrient pollution from farms increased algal growth, smothering the seagrass. We measured the abundance of sea urchins (biomass density), kelp (numerical density) and fish (Catch per unit effort) at four islands in the mid-1980s (when otters were abundant at two of the islands and rare at the two others) and in 2000 (after otters had become rare at all four islands). While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Sea otters can greatly affect the environment they live in. 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. Increases in kelp and seagrass due to sea otters can translate into increased carbon sequestration. The Lightning Talks: Sea Otters event occurred on Earth Day, 4/22/2021 from 6-7pm PT on YouTube Live. Read about my event of short engaging lightning talks in fulfillment of the UW PCC Graduate Certificate in Climate Science. Omissions? One species had lower survival rates in heated water when it was on its ownbut when exposed to either competition or predation, the rates between heated and nonheated ponds were virtually equal. National Library of Medicine Wolf C, Betts MG, Levi T, Newsome TM, Ripple WJ. Kelp forests have been found to sequester, or hold onto, carbon in the marine environment. 4. And in both these ecosystems, otters might have the added benefit of storing carbon. The main objectives of this project were to: In 2020, the Seattle Aquarium transitioned its Lightning Talk event to a virtual format. However, we do not guarantee individual replies due to the high volume of messages. 2013). That means it's pulling carbon from the atmosphere faster than a slower growing plant (though kelp is technically an alga). Accessibility "Just in my own soul, it was an important thing," he says of his early observations of that stark difference. Volker Rudolf, an ecologist at Rice University, also found that predators can alter the effects of climate change. The sea otter is the largest otter, reaching 100-160 cm (40 . 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. That perspective is echoed in a soon to be published paper by University of Colorado Boulder ecologist Laura Dee, who points to the many indirect effects warmer temperatures can have on a species. Skeletal muscle thermogenesis enables aquatic life in the smallest marine mammal. The information you enter will appear in your e-mail message and is not retained by Phys.org in any form. In general, currents carry warm water from . 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. Unable to load your collection due to an error, Unable to load your delegates due to an error. This document is subject to copyright. 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.

Obituaries Talihina, Oklahoma, Involuntary Commitment For Drug Abuse Arkansas, Mcelroy Poly Welder For Sale, Articles I