How did the disappearance of the sea otters influence the coastal marine ecosystem?

The decline in sea otters has allowed their primary prey, sea urchins, to increase in number and strip coastal kelp forests over large areas.

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What is the role of a sea otter in the ecosystem?

As mentioned previously, sea otters like to feed on crabs. These crabs like to feed on seagrass in their marine community. Thus, sea otters control the abundance of crabs and crabs control the abundance of seagrass in their oceanic ecosystem.

How did the decline in the sea otter affect the rest of the ecosystem?

This is because sea otters eat animals, like sea urchins, that graze on kelp and the reefs on which the kelp grows. If sea otter populations decline, sea urchin and other prey species populations increase and graze on more of the kelp forests—often to the point of destroying them.

What happened when sea otters started disappearing?

Sure enough, the seal and sea lion population had also declined. So otters have vanished because the fish, which they never ate in the first place, have vanished. Now the ripple spreads: otters are no longer there to eat sea urchins on the ocean floor, so the sea urchin population has exploded.

What effect of the disappearance of the otters on the diet of the glaucous winged gulls?

3. As a result of the disappearance of the otters and loss of the kelp forests, the diet of the glaucous-winged gulls shifted from fish to invertebrates. 4. As a result of the disappearance of the otters and loss of the kelp forests, the diet of the bald eagles shifted from fish and mammals to other bird species.

What happened to the ecosystem after the sea otters were absent?

The presence or absence of sea otters causes a cascade of direct and indirect effects down the food chain, which in turn affect the structure of the ecosystem. These early experiments inspired countless others on keystone species and trophic cascades in ecosystems throughout the world.

Why is the sea otter population decreasing?

These collective findings are inconsistent with nutritional limitation, disease, or environmental contaminants, and consistent with predation (or possibly some other density-independent factor) as the reason for the sea otter population decline.

What happens when sea otters disappeared from the Pacific Coast of North America?

When sea otters disappeared from the pacific coast of North America, sea urchin population increased which in turn caused the kelp bed to decrease making the ecosystem unstable.

How are sea otters affected by climate change?

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.

Why do otters eat on their backs?

Sea otters dive to the ocean floor to retrieve food. They catch prey in their forepaws then bring it to the surface. A sea otter eats in the water, lying on its back, with its food on its chest. Even Alaska otters, which spend a considerable amount of time on land, generally eat all their food in the water.

How sea otters help protect underwater meadows?

In British Columbia, Canada, sea otters often eat clams, which bury themselves in meadows of eelgrass (Zostera marina), a wide-ranging aquatic plant species. The predators use their sensitive whiskers and front paws to feel for clams in the soft seafloor.

How sea otters help save the planet quizlet?

Sea otters prey on the sea urchins, which helps the kelp forests. The sea otters keep the population of sea urchins down, which allows the kelp forests to grow, & helps keeps kelp forests from being destroyed.

What happened to all the sea otters?

During the 1970’s and 80’s, the sea otter population rapidly increased and showed signs of possibly retuning to its original carrying capacity. [40] However, during the past 20 years the population has been declining again from its approximate high of 90,000 in 1985 to only a few thousand individuals today.

How are sea otters protected?

Sea otters have been protected by the International Fur Seal Treaty since 1911. This treaty between U.S., Russia, Japan, and Great Britain was established to ban large-scale commercial hunting of sea otters and fur seals and to allow their populations to recover. Since then, sea otter numbers have increased.

What is the relationship between sea otters and kelp forests?

The presence of sea otters can protect a kelp forest. They eat large amounts of sea urchins, which keeps the creature’s numbers in check and prevents the destruction of the kelp forest. Sea otters are a keystone species of the coastline ecosystem.

Do sea otters eat coral reefs?

They have an interesting method of eating their prey. Sea otters dive to rocky reefs, where they collect invertebrates and also a large rock. Upon returning to the surface, they float on their backs, with the rock on the stomachs.

What effect of the disappearance of the otters on the diet of bald eagles?

“The otter decline has caused a phase shift in the coastal ecosystem from a kelp dominated phase state to a deforested phase state.” This shift means many fewer kelp forest fish for the eagles to eat. In response, the eagles have adjusted their foraging tactics.

What are 3 interesting facts about sea otters?

Sea otter fur is the densest of any mammal at about 1 million hairs per square inch (We have 100,000 hairs on our entire head). Wild sea otters typically have a lifespan between 15 and 20 years. Average weight of an adult female California sea otter is about 50 lbs. Males can weigh up to 70 lbs.

Do seagulls eat berries?

Most of the gulls, especially the larger ones, are omnivorous, eating small mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians, according to “The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior.” They eat dead things that wash up on the shore, and also dung, grain and berries, the bird guide says.

Why did the kelp beds disappear from the Pacific Coast of the US?

Northern California’s kelp forests are declining due to two stressors. First, there has been unusual and drastic ocean warming in the area. Second, sea star wasting disease is killing the main predator of sea urchins, the sunflower sea star.

What do bald eagles specialize in eating?

Fish is the primary food of bald eagles, but they will eat a variety of other animals and birds. Their prey items include waterfowl and small mammals like squirrels, prairie dogs, raccoons and rabbits.

What happens in a trophic cascade?

trophic cascade, an ecological phenomenon triggered by the addition or removal of top predators and involving reciprocal changes in the relative populations of predator and prey through a food chain, which often results in dramatic changes in ecosystem structure and nutrient cycling.

What were sea otters hunted for?

Sea otters were hunted for their fur to the point of near extinction. Early in the 20th century only 1,000 to 2,000 animals remained. Today, sea otters are protected by law.

What happened to kelp forests as sea otters disappeared?

When the sea otter population dwindled, sea urchin numbers grew. The urchins devoured entire kelp forests until they were essentially gone. With no more kelp to feast on, the urchins turned to one of the oldest structures in the ecosystem: coral-like algae with a skeleton made of limestone like a “living rock.”

How have sea otter populations changed?

Range expansion to the south, which is characterized by a seasonal redistribution of several hundred individuals (believed to be largely non-territorial males) has brought sea otters into closer association with the potential effects of oil and gas development, and increased conflicts with Southern California …

Are sea otters endangered or threatened?

Endangered (Population decreasing)

When did sea otters become endangered?

Historically, sea otters numbered in the hundreds of thousands in the North Pacific Ocean, but due to the fur trade, their numbers plummeted in the early 1900s. The threat to the southern sea otter posed by oil spills prompted its listing as a threatened species in 1977.

Why are otters so cute?

Otters are so fluffy, indeed having the thickest fur of any mammal! They have a million hairs per square inch, that’s about if you took all the hairs on your head and put them on one square inch, now cover the otter’s entire body with that. So fluffy and adorable!!

Why do otters love ice?

An otter knows nothing better than to laze around in a huge bucket filled with ice cubes, which they rub on their faces, use to cool their fur and to snack on. It’s not only great entertainment (for them and us!), it keeps them cool and hydrated in the summer heat.

What are sea otters adaptations?

Sea otters exhibit numerous adaptations which help them survive in their challenging marine environment. Long whiskers help them to detect vibrations in murky waters and sensitive forepaws, with retractable claws, help them to groom, locate and capture prey underwater, and use tools.

What ecosystem are sea otters found in?

Learn about the sea otter (Enhydra lutris), a keystone species in the kelp forest ecosystems found along parts of North America’s Pacific coast. A major part of its role in the kelp forest is to keep sea urchin populations in check.

Why do otters show their babies when in danger?

Although sea otters are very protective for their babies, but they also tend to use their babies as a defensive mechanism. A sea otter tends to show its baby to a predator so that the predator might feel compassion for them.

How can we save sea otters from extinction?

Fertilizers that make their way into the ocean can cause algal blooms, many of which are toxic to sea otters and other marine species. Support legislation and community efforts to improve wetlands. You can also help by supporting legislation protecting sea otter habitats, kelp forests, and marine protected areas.

How are sea otters helping marshes?

This sea otter, about to eat a crab in the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, is cute, sure. But more importantly, it’s indirectly combating some harmful effects of agricultural runoff and protecting the underwater ecosystem.

How do sea otters keep the kelp ecosystem healthy?

They eat sea urchins and other invertebrates that graze on giant kelp. Without sea otters, these grazing animals can destroy kelp forests and consequently the wide diversity of animals that depend upon kelp habitat for survival.

Why are otters important?

Otters are an essential keystone species.

Along the Pacific coast, sea otters help control the sea urchin population. Fewer sea urchins in turn help prevent kelp forests from being overgrazed.

How did sea otters evolve?

Scientists believe that sea otters descended from fish-eating, otter-like ancestors about five to seven million years ago, during the late Miocene and early Pliocene period.

What is the cause of the decline and eventually disappearance of many sea otter populations from coastal areas of the Pacific ocean?

Sea otter population declines after the onset of the Pacific maritime fur trade, which began in earnest in 1743, were rapid and precipitous. Only 25 of the 8,226 sea otters reportedly harvested from the Commander Islands were taken after 1753 (45, 46).

How did the decline in otter population affect the kelp forest?

The sea otter decline set off a trophic cascade in which the coastal marine ecosystem underwent a phase shift from kelp forests to deforested sea urchin barrens. This interaction in turn affected the distribution, abundance and productivity of numerous other species.

What kind of effect do otters have on kelp explain why?

Sea otters are a “keystone species” which means that they can exert top-down pressure via predation on sea urchins, which are grazers upon kelp. As urchin density decreases from sea otter predation, so does the grazing pressure on kelp and as a result kelp forests flourish in the presence of sea otters.

Do sea otters eat their babies?

They rape baby seals and hold each other’s pups hostage for food.

What do marine otters eat?

Eating Habits

The sea otter’s diet consists almost exclusively of marine invertebrates including sea urchins, a variety of bivalves such as clams and mussels, abalone, other mollusks, crustaceans, and snails. Sea otters are one of the few animals that can eat sea urchins, making them a key stone species.

What animals prey on sea otters?

Predators of sea otters include sharks and killer whales. Sea otters dive or play dead when they sense danger, or may signal alarm by raising a forepaw. The Alaskan subspecies have predators on land such as coyotes or brown bears. Bald eagles have been observed swooping down and grabbing sea otter pups.

What effect did the disappearance of the otters have on the diet of the glaucous winged gulls?

As a result of the disappearance of the otters and loss of the kelp forests, the diet of the glaucous-winged gulls shifted from fish to invertebrates.

Do sea otters eat bald eagles?

Historically, more than 90 percent of the eagles’ food comes from the ocean. Sea otters once also occupied a large range of coastal marine environments near these islands, but in recent years, otter populations have declined in response to their own main predator.

How would the bald eagle be affected by the loss of the kelp forests?

It’s been found that because of the tremendous decrease of kelp forests, bald eagles are forced to shift their diet from fish to seabirds and other mammals. According to researchers, they have become opportunistic foragers, eating whatever they can to survive.

What would happen if sea otters went extinct?

As top predators, sea otters are critical to maintaining the balance of nearshore ecosystems, such as kelp forests, embayments and estuaries. Without sea otters, sea urchins can overpopulate the sea floor and devour the kelp forests that provide cover and food for many other marine animals.

How long are otters pregnant?

Gestation period

Is Rosa the sea otter still alive?

At 22 years old, Rosa is at the upper end of the life span for a southern sea otter. She remains active, though she has developed age-related health problems. That requires extra care from our dedicated Sea Otter Program staff and our veterinary team.

How is kelp affected by climate change?

Globally, seaweeds are thought to sequester nearly 200 million tonnes of CO2 every year – as much as New York State’s annual emissions. And when the algae dies, much of the carbon locked up in its tissues is transported to deep oceans. But these natural carbon sinks are also under threat from climate change.

How do kelp forests affect the environment?

All of this matters because these ecosystems provide huge benefits: They cushion coastlines against the effect of storm surges and sea level rise; they cleanse water by absorbing excess nutrients; and they also slurp up carbon dioxide, which can help drive down ocean acidity and engineer a healthy environment for …

What happened to the kelp population?

Satellite imagery shows that the area covered by kelp forests off the coast of Northern California has dropped by more than 95 percent, with just a few small, isolated patches of bull kelp remaining.

What is eagle Colour?

Adult Bald Eagles have white heads and tails with dark brown bodies and wings. Their legs and bills are bright yellow. Immature birds have mostly dark heads and tails; their brown wings and bodies are mottled with white in varying amounts.

Who eats a eagle?

Eagles are apex predators at the top of the food chain, which means they have no natural predators. However, unattended eaglets and even weakened adult eagles may be eaten by other predators such as bears, wolves, lions, alligators, ravens, and great horned owls.

What did pigeons eat?

A pigeon is typically a granivores bird that mainly feeds on seeds and grains. Along with that, pigeons like to eat fruits, vegetables and also feed on insects, bugs, snails, and worms. Though they do not eat worms and snails very often, such foods provide them with fats, proteins, and other nutrients.

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