“Kelp” the Sea Otters save Kelp Forests
by Makayla McCormick
Sea otters are a unique keystone species that depend on kelp forests as their habitat. In turn, kelp forests also depend on sea otters to help maintain their forests and keep them ridden from sea urchins, which thrive on grazing the kelp and depleting their population into kelp barren lands. Sea otters eat the urchins, helping to keep the kelp forests healthy and abundant for the plethora of other species that depend on the forests as their habitat. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, sea otters were hunted almost to extinction, until the Fur Seal Treaty of 1911 halted the fur trade network. Their rebound was slow because of the competition they had over food with local and corporate fisherman, and the little support from that large amount of people involved. Because they spend almost all their time in the water and hardly come up to land, they had no other place or way to obtain food than from the ocean. Their habitat in the kelp made it possible for them to survive and multiply because of the abundant food supply the kelp provided. Their conservation was successful over time, and is one of the greatest success stories of a depleted species of all time.
The range of kelp forests is constricted to mainly the coasts of the Pacific Ocean, from Japan up through Russia, over to Alaska and down the coasts of Washington and California. The importance of kelp has been misunderstood by the general public, as well as why sea otters are so important to their abundance. Many organisms also rely on the kelp forests including many kinds of rockfish that live in the kelp, crabs, jelly fish, anemones, worms, scud, snails, and of course, sea otters. Kelp photosynthesize, just like land plants do, but take in an incredible amount of carbon dioxide. Kelp take in 4.4 megatons of carbon dioxide annually without the presence of sea otters, and 8.7 megatons with the presence of sea otters. That is like taking 3 to 5 million passenger cars off the road each year. Kelp forests are extremely important and a very possible option when scientists think about climate change, being referred to by many scientists as “carbon dioxide sinks”. Some scientists believe that planting kelp and creating man-made kelp forests could be the answer to climate change, because of their incredible role in sequestering carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. If there was enough kelp in the oceans and on the coasts to sequester and store enough carbon dioxide to match or closely match the amount being produced by humans every year, there could be a severe change on the global scale. This is the route scientists are going, and they believe that the kelp could actually fix the world’s problem we’re heading in to. Because of their role in this, it is clear why the conservation of kelp forests and sea otters is so important on a global scale.
Without the help of the sea otters, the kelp forests may no longer even be in existence. The sea urchins are so detrimental to the forests, and graze down every last bit of the kelp, creating the ghostly kelp barrenlands. They keep the kelp from thriving where they are normally abundant. Because of what we now know about how important the kelp are to the environment, it is important that the conservation of sea otters persists and their numbers continue to grow. Not only do the sea otters directly affect the kelp population by keeping the sea urchins under control, but they also indirectly affect the kelp population by their presence. Scientists aren’t sure why just the presence of a population causes the kelp to sequester more carbon, but it’s happening and it’s extremely important that the sea otters’ presence continues to grow.
[Photo, Pacific Southwest Region, by Ron Eby licensed by CC BY 2.0]
by Makayla McCormick
Sea otters are a unique keystone species that depend on kelp forests as their habitat. In turn, kelp forests also depend on sea otters to help maintain their forests and keep them ridden from sea urchins, which thrive on grazing the kelp and depleting their population into kelp barren lands. Sea otters eat the urchins, helping to keep the kelp forests healthy and abundant for the plethora of other species that depend on the forests as their habitat. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, sea otters were hunted almost to extinction, until the Fur Seal Treaty of 1911 halted the fur trade network. Their rebound was slow because of the competition they had over food with local and corporate fisherman, and the little support from that large amount of people involved. Because they spend almost all their time in the water and hardly come up to land, they had no other place or way to obtain food than from the ocean. Their habitat in the kelp made it possible for them to survive and multiply because of the abundant food supply the kelp provided. Their conservation was successful over time, and is one of the greatest success stories of a depleted species of all time.
The range of kelp forests is constricted to mainly the coasts of the Pacific Ocean, from Japan up through Russia, over to Alaska and down the coasts of Washington and California. The importance of kelp has been misunderstood by the general public, as well as why sea otters are so important to their abundance. Many organisms also rely on the kelp forests including many kinds of rockfish that live in the kelp, crabs, jelly fish, anemones, worms, scud, snails, and of course, sea otters. Kelp photosynthesize, just like land plants do, but take in an incredible amount of carbon dioxide. Kelp take in 4.4 megatons of carbon dioxide annually without the presence of sea otters, and 8.7 megatons with the presence of sea otters. That is like taking 3 to 5 million passenger cars off the road each year. Kelp forests are extremely important and a very possible option when scientists think about climate change, being referred to by many scientists as “carbon dioxide sinks”. Some scientists believe that planting kelp and creating man-made kelp forests could be the answer to climate change, because of their incredible role in sequestering carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. If there was enough kelp in the oceans and on the coasts to sequester and store enough carbon dioxide to match or closely match the amount being produced by humans every year, there could be a severe change on the global scale. This is the route scientists are going, and they believe that the kelp could actually fix the world’s problem we’re heading in to. Because of their role in this, it is clear why the conservation of kelp forests and sea otters is so important on a global scale.
Without the help of the sea otters, the kelp forests may no longer even be in existence. The sea urchins are so detrimental to the forests, and graze down every last bit of the kelp, creating the ghostly kelp barrenlands. They keep the kelp from thriving where they are normally abundant. Because of what we now know about how important the kelp are to the environment, it is important that the conservation of sea otters persists and their numbers continue to grow. Not only do the sea otters directly affect the kelp population by keeping the sea urchins under control, but they also indirectly affect the kelp population by their presence. Scientists aren’t sure why just the presence of a population causes the kelp to sequester more carbon, but it’s happening and it’s extremely important that the sea otters’ presence continues to grow.
[Photo, Pacific Southwest Region, by Ron Eby licensed by CC BY 2.0]