The Impact of Sea Otters on Marine Ecology Essay

Killer whales are one of the most fascinating displays of ocean life. The killer whale has characteristics that are important to its survival in the ocean. It is interesting to know that killer whales have a plentiful diet. It is astounding to see how killer whales behave in the ocean. I plan to tell you about the killer whale, its characteristics, its diet, and its behavior in the ocean as well as the predation of the orca.

The sandy shores of beaches can be considered as a very harsh environment to live in (Ted Klenk, 1999). Survival in such a habitat requires an organism to withstand strong wave and current action, tidal rise and fall, unstable substrate, heavy predation and wide variations in salinity and temperature (The Otter Island Project). Any organism found in this type of harsh environment is specialized and highly adapted (The Otter Island Project).

Bull kelps have strands about 30 meters long with floats to help keep the algae close to the surface within reach of the sunlight. Because California has a consideration amount of sunlight, the giant kelp can be found along the coastal regions. Because of this, California sea otters gather in the kelp forest and snooze during spring. To prevent themselves from being drift away by tides and currents, they anchor themselves by scraps of kelp around their body. In some aspects, sea otters are guardians of the region. Several creatures that shelter in the kelp have to venture in the opening to feed, like the bat ray. They feed in the sandy floor of the open sea, they use jet of water to blown the sand away and expose invertebrates. They will either eat or be

The lecture explained how the population of sea otters declined, due to the environmental pollution. First, the oil rigs along the Alaskan coat serve as an indication to pollution. This directly refutes the reading passage which states that predation was most likely the reason, since the bodies of the dead sea otters didn't wash on the shores.Secondly, the passage mention that the water samples that were extracted from the sea revealed the presence of chemicals. Again, this contradicts with the lecture which claims that the whales which the otters consume were not available anymore. Which had forced the sea otters to change their diet to include small sea animals. Thirdly, the lecture mentions that the decrease in sea otters population was

The impact of toxoplasmosis has resulted in the endangerment of the California sea otter and the extinction of alala, the Hawaiian crow. With only 1300 Hawaiian monk seals in existence, toxoplasmosis can potentially lead to their extinction. The extinction of the Hawaiian monk seal can produce devastating effects on the species that rely on the Hawaiian monk seal for food, such as the Tiger shark and Galapagos shark (NOAA, 2016). Meanwhile, the fish, crustacean, and cephalopod population may increase due to the reduction in predators. Therefore, the extinction of a species can disrupt Hawaii’s sensitive

The area of research that I have selected is the effects of overfishing in the Sea Otter ecosystem off the coast of California. The effects caused by the fishing pressure on the ecosystem will have different outcomes, depending on the strength and the types of relationships of the organisms present. (4) Red Abalone populations have declined drastically, to the point of the abalone fishery collapse. Several factors have led up to the collapse including Withering Syndrome, where the organism loses the ability to attach itself to rocks, making it more susceptible to predation, or the organism can eventually wither and starve to death. Sea Urchins and Red Abalone are a part of the same ecosystem, and are competitors of each other.(5) Both organisms graze on macroalgae and are a primary food source for Sea Otters. Sea Otters occurred from the North Pacific Rim down to Baja California, Mexico, but now only occur in small isolated patches (9) It is understood that Sea Otter presence can characterize community structure, where they can control and determine the size of Sea Urchin and Red Abalone populations. In the absence of Sea Otters, “Urchin Barrens” are created from the overgrazing of macroalgae by Sea Urchin. In these areas the ecosystem have changed dramatically, due to the overfishing, or in this case the over hunting, of Sea Otters causing a trophic cascade.(7)In some areas, Sea Otters have been reintroduced, in other areas they were never removed, and in others they

In a documentary film directed by Bill Wisenski, “Threatened: The Controversial Struggle of the Southern Sea Otter,” it reveals some of the reasons why the California sea otter population is declining. In addition, it shows the controversy surrounding the “No Otter Zone”. Furthermore, it ensures why the California sea otter population is important to the marine ecosystem. In the film, sea otter populations are endangered because of the significant impact by some human factors. In the 1700’s and 1800’s, fur traders hunted sea otter population to near extinction. Besides this, threatened events such as shipping and drilling oil across the Pacific and along coastal areas; the California sea otters is vulnerable to oil contamination. As a result,

Loggerhead eggs and hatchlings are a large food source for a variety of terrestrial animals, nearshore predatory fish, and seabirds, providing substantial amounts of energy and nutrients for these species (Wilson et al. 2010). A five or ten year period of loggerhead turtle declines may cause sublethal effects such as decreased growth rates or reproductive output for these predator species and a fifty year period of loggerhead turtle decline may potentially have more severe impacts such as significant declines for local populations that rely on eggs and hatchlings as a food source.

Firstly, the author states that pollution sources such as oil rigs near Alaskan beaches is killing the sea otters. Also, a research held on water samples in the area showed that it contains high levels of chemicals that may indirectly kill the otters. This view is objected by the lecturer. He proposes that Orcas use the animals as source of food, that is why there are no signs of dead otters on shores of Alaska, which would however be

There are 16 different breeds of otters. Sea otter, Eurasian otter, Lutra, Lontra, oriental small clawed otter, Giant otter, smooth-coated otter, African clawless otter, Northern River otter, Asian small clawed otter, Congo clawless otter, marine otter, neotropical otter, South American otter, spotted-necked otter, and hairy nosed otter. This animal is pretty much always near water, they are usually found near both freshwater and coastal marine, such as, lakes, rivers, inland wetlands, coastal shorelines, marshes, and estuaries. Otters can be found in North America & other places as well. Otters eat fish, crabs, sea urchins, abalones, clams, mussels, and snails. They are preyed on by bobcats, coyotes, mountain lions, wolves, black bears, and

Sea otters, (Enhydra lutris), are considered a keystone species, and for this reason, can be useful indicators of nearshore ecosystem health (Kreuder et al. 2003). With the implementation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, southern sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis) populations within their California range rebounded from post fur trade levels of approximately 50-60 in 1938, to more than 3000 today. However, growth rates have been slower than expected for this population (Riedman and Estes 1990). Definitive explanation for this is unclear, but contributing factors may be that sea otters face a range of physiological and environmental challenges to reproduce.

Imagine a world of chaos. We see things like that all the time in movies, where zombies roam the earth and there are just those few main survivors left. The world is in ruins. If ocean life was to die out, there would be a collapse of civilization as a whole. Just like we see on TV, the world would become a place where no order exists. This would lead to human extinction. The ocean dies, we die along with it, and if sea turtles die, so does the ocean. In simple words, one could say that human life depends on sea turtles. In this speech I will be covering three topics. First, how a sea turtle’s diet benefits marine life and humans, second, how sea turtles provide homes and food for other species, and last, how sea turtles protect beaches from washing away.

Similarly, sea otters in kelp forests keep sea urchins in check. Kelp roots are merely anchors, and not the vast nutrient gathering networks of land plants. Thus the urchins only need to eat the roots of the kelp, a tiny fraction of the plant's biomass, to remove it from the ecosystem.

It was dark outside. Clouds loomed over the skies as I walked into the enormous colorful building. Blazing rays of LED lights shone through the entrance’s translucent windows. Brightness and gleams engulfed my vision like a wildfire. My eyes blink, trying to focus where I was walking. As I paced myself through the crowded corridors of the large hallway trying to find my group of friends, I could see murals of sea animals everywhere and signs directing where each exhibit was. Animated and overjoyed, I pranced to the first exhibit where the baby sand sharks were. They were extraordinary, swimming around their tank but sadly not able to leave their confined space. Their tank only allowed them to swim continuously in circles. Although animals in captivity tend to live longer than animals in the wild, it is depressing to mull over how they were stripped of their freedom. There was nowhere to escape when housed in such small enclosures.

Seagrasses are essential primary producers that provide habitat and refuge to fauna. Anthropogenic influences have caused global loss of seagrasses and a major contributor is eutrophication, which increases phytoplankton and algal populations, reduces light availability, and causes daily hypoxic conditions. Eutrophication is commonly linked to declines in temperate conditions and is more difficult to link to tropical systems since decreases are typically related to physical damage and diminishing light conditions from runoff. Climate change, herbivore declines, disease and overfishing, along with anthropogenic impacts from coastal development, run-off, eutrophication, and aquaculture have caused declines in coral reefs and mangrove systems. These three systems are interconnected and when one system is impacted, secondary impacts are observed in the other systems; coastal ecosystems will be adversely effected and decline. Additional research, conservation, and ways to reduce anthropogenic impacts have been discussed. Restoration is used to reverse habitat loss, although success is varied. Coastal systems and the biological and ecosystem services they provide, may take decades to establish. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are instituted to protect systems from further degradation, restore communities and allow them to flourish naturally. However, local residents are affected by MPAs and may become displaced, have restriction placed on their livelihood, or elimination of their