The return of sea otters and their voracious appetites is helping save some of California’s wetlands, a new study finds.
Sea otters are constantly eating, and one of their favorite snacks is striped shore crab. These crabs dig burrows and nibble on the pickled roots of wetland grasses that hold the soil in place.
Brent Hughes, a marine ecologist at Sonoma State University and co-author of a new study published Wednesday in Nature, says that when crabs are left unchecked, they can turn wetland banks into “Swiss cheese,” causing large waves and waves. He said it could collapse if a storm hits.
Chicago Aquarium welcomes sea otter pup rescued from Alaska: ‘Ambassador of the species’
Researchers have found that the return of crab-eating sea otters to an estuary near Monterey, California, is helping to reduce erosion.
“It doesn’t completely reverse erosion, but it slows it down to natural levels,” Hughes says.
For many years, there were no sea otters in Elkhorn Swamp.
A sea otter floats with a piece of plant matter in Monterey Bay, California, on May 19, 2019. Thanks to conservation efforts, the region’s sea otter population has rebounded from the brink of extinction, and their return to California’s wetlands is helping keep the sea otter population in check. The number of burrowing crabs that cause wetland erosion. (Emma Levy, via AP)
The 19th century fur trade decimated the world’s population, which once stretched from Alaska to California to Russia and Japan. At one time, only 2,000 animals remained, mostly in Alaska.
Hunting bans and habitat restoration efforts have allowed sea otters to regain some of their former range. The first returnee was found in Elkhorn Slough in 1984. The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s program to raise and release orphaned sea otters has also increased the estuary’s population.
In the new study, researchers analyzed historical erosion rates dating back to the 1930s to assess the impact of sea otter returns. They also installed fenced areas to keep otters away from some sections of the stream for three years. The banks of these streams eroded much faster.
Previous studies of the return of top predators to different habitats (most famously the reintroduction of gray wolves to Yellowstone National Park) have shown that the species maintains ecosystem stability. It shows. Wolves reduced the number of elk and elk that feed on seedlings, slowing riverbank erosion.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPfender
Much of the previous research was based on observations, but the design of the latest study left no doubt about the influence of sea otters, said Johan Eklev, a marine biologist at Stockholm University who was not involved in the study. Stated.
Other studies have shown that sea otters help regenerate kelp forests by controlling the number of sea urchins that munch on the kelp.
Brian Silliman, a coastal ecologist at Duke University and co-author of the new study, said sea otters are “amazing discoverers and eaters.”
