How Sea Otters Are Helping Save the Planet

Also watch „How this Otter Family Fights Off a Jaguar“: otters are super-cute, but did you know these furry marine mammals are also climate warriors? As a keystone species at the top of a trophic cascade, they help protect sea kelp forests that are major absorbers of C02. Historically, sea otters have had a tough time. The fur trade wiped out 99% of the species in their North Pacific range. Then, in the 1970s, a major habitat, Alaska’s Amchitka Island, was almost completely destroyed. Find out what links nuclear bombs, sea urchins, kelp and otters in a little-known underwater world.


🔔 Subscribe to our channel: And check out this Sea otter LIVESTREAM: https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/live-cams/sea-otter-cam


#terramatters #seaotter #amchitka

🔗 Sources:
"Serendipity An Ecologist's Quest to Understand Nature", James Estes, University of California Press; https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520377493/serendipity

"How Kelp Naturally Combats Global Climate Change", Harvard University; https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2019/how-kelp-naturally-combats-global-climate-change/

"Sea otters and their role in the kelp forest", National Geographic; https://newsela.com/read/lib-multimedia-gfx-keystone-species-otter/id/2001009582/

"Do trophic cascades affect the storage and flux of atmospheric carbon? ", Wilmers, C. C., Estes, J. A., Edwards, M., Laidre, K. L. and Konar, B. (2012), An analysis of sea otters and kelp forests. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 10: 409–415. doi:10.1890/110176

"Sea Otter TED Talk"; https://prezi.com/c0xfoqogpacy/sea-otter-ted-talk/"

"Jim Estes Explanes How Sea Otters Run The World", USGS; https://www.usgs.gov/centers/werc/news/emeritus-and-distinguished-alumni-profile-jim-estes-explains-how-sea-otters-run#publications

"UCSC study shows how urchin-loving otters can help fight global
warming", UC Santa Cruz Newscenter; http://news.ucsc.edu/2012/09/

"When the Otters Vanished, Everything Else Started to Crumble" https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/10/science/otters-sea-urchins-alaska.html

"Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)" https://www.usgs.gov/centers/werc/news/emeritus-and-distinguished-alumni-profile-jim-estes-explains-how-sea-otters-run#publications

"Behavioral responses across a mosaic of ecosystem states restructure a sea otter–urchin trophic cascade", Joshua G. Smith et al https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2012493118

"The Sea Otter Whisperer", NATURE; https://www.nature.com/articles/533318a

"900 OTTER DEATHS TIED TO ATOM TEST", NYT Timemachine:
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1971/12/12/91315210.html?pageNumber=49

🔗 Footage Sources
Historic:
POND5
Reuters
National Archives
Department of Energy "The Warm Coat 1969",

Protest:
Reuters
Alamy
Greenpeace Media Archive
New York Times Timemachine

Sea Otter, Orcas, Kelp etc.
Terra Mater Studios
POND5

Sea Otter Livestream: https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/live-cams/sea-otter-cam

Sea Otter in Jedi Robe: Twitter Feed & https://dailyotter.tumblr.com/post/149503584929/sea-otter-wears-kelp-jedi-robehttps://dailyotter.tumblr.com/post/149503584929/sea-otter-wears-kelp-jedi-robeCredit: Terra Mater