the sea otter is a keystone species in the kelp forest ecosystem. Kelp forests provide food and shelter for large numbers of fish and shellfish. Kelp also protect coastlines from damaging wave action. One of the sea otter's favorite delicacies is the sea urchin who in turn loves kelp.
The transition began when the population of sea otters started to decline, possibly because of increased predation by killer whales. Green urchin numbers skyrocketed, and the animals destroyed the kelp forests along hundreds of miles of the archipelago.
Kelp forests provide food and shelter for large numbers of fish and shellfish. Kelp also protect coastlines from damaging wave action. One of the sea otter's favorite delicacies is the sea urchin who in turn loves kelp. How long does giant kelp live for?
the sea otter is a keystone species in the kelp forest ecosystem. Kelp forests provide food and shelter for large numbers of fish and shellfish. Kelp also protect coastlines from damaging wave action.
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.
Their effect on the community is to eat sea urchins. Without otters, sea urchins populations explode, and the kelp forests are decimated, in that urchins eat the kelp. By keeping urchin numbers low, otters make the kelp forests possible, which in turn provides an environment that supports myriad other species.
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.
These negative effects reach from the ocean to the shore. Red abalone have been severely impacted by the loss of kelp and thus lack of food, causing the abalone fishery to close until at least 2021. Sea birds and marine mammals are also feeling the effects.
The fish and shellfish that depend on the kelp forest will lose their habitat, and their populations will decline greatly. 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.
The US Geological Survey study's lead biologist, Dr. Bob Anthony, explained that the species are linked in two different ways. The first is directly eagles often eat sea otter pups when the adults dive into the water to gather food. The species are also linked through a long ecological chain.
Though they are all carnivorous predators, some have a diet that is more specialized than that of other eagles. The bald eagle, for example, has a diet that consists mainly of fish, though they will also consume waterfowl, small mammals, and even snakes as well.
Because river otters are large carnivores, only a few animals will make an effort to eat one. The life of the river otter surely involves some peril, and a life of diving underwater and surfacing again some time later does have its share of blind risks. Bald eagles often prove to be formidable predators.
Central California bull kelp forests remained in cooler waters and thus in better condition when the winter swells hit, and a much greater percent survived. Non-point and point source pollution including sewage, industrial disposal, and coastal runoff might contribute to kelp forest degradation.
The factors influencing kelp forest stability are diverse: kelp harvesting; gra zing by fishes, sea urchins, and crustaceans; plant competition; storms; El Niño events; sedimentation ; and pollution. By most accounts, because of its spectacular growth rates, kelp recovers quickly from physical disturbances such as storms that might uproot ...
Researchers attribute the discrepancy between southern and central California to ocean temperature gradients; the El Niño brought unusually high ocean temperatures to southern California where the heat degraded the health of the giant kelp forests.
In the 1980's alone, kelp harvesting supported an industry worth more than $40 million a year, and in 1993, more than 4,700 wet tons of kelp were extracted from the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
Kelp harvesting during World War I peaked in 1919 when 400,000 wet tons were used to make potash for gunpowder and fertilizer. In the 1930s the food, pharmaceutical, and scientific communities began extracting algin, a thickening, stabilizing, suspending, and gelling agent.
However, as in all natural environments, the health is proportional to the number of adverse conditions to which it is exposed. Commercial kelp harvesting is potentially the greatest threat to long-term kelp stability. It has supported a multitude of industries over the past century.
Similarly, kelp may experience reduced growth rates and reproductive success in more toxic waters and sediments. Studies on microscopic stages of kelp suggest that kelp is sensitive to sewage, industrial waste discharges, and other causes of poor water and sediment quality.