Otters and Kelp
- kelp aren’t exactly plants
- they’re actually brown algae
- but they’re still important none the less
- kelp are especially important in regulating ecosystems in the Northern Pacific
- vast, underwater kelp forests support a whole host of organisms
- they maintain healthy fish communities which in turn maintain our fishing industry
- these forests also sequester carbon as well as tropical rainforests
- and they protect coastlines from degradation by storms
- sea otters are another integral part of Northern Pacific ecosystem function
- they are native to that area
- and it’s where they forage for all their food
- they primarily eat invertebrates
- like mollusks and crustaceans and sea urchins
- and their consumption of sea urchins is integral to the preservation of kelp forests
- sea urchins feed on algae
- so if there are not enough otters around to keep the sea urchin population at bay
- the forest degrades
- fish populations plummet
- coastlines degrade
- and fisheries dwindle
The absence of otters has a cascading effect on the rest of the Northern Pacific kelp forest. This is a case study in conservation. The absence of one species can be all it takes to degrade an entire ecosystem, leaving all other organisms who depend upon that ecosystem high and dry. In order to achieve whole ecosystem preservation, we must understand how each organisms functions within that ecosystem, but that’s extremely difficult to do. Ecology is a relatively young science and there are many things we have yet to understand about how organisms interact with each other and with their surroundings. I suppose that’s what makes it exciting though, isn’t it?
Source
“Sea Otters: Saving Kelp Forests and Our Climate.” BBC. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2016. <http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140121-sea-otters-our-ocean-protectors>.
