Sea Otter (IMAGE)

Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences

Sea Otter

Caption

Sea otters, the "keystone predator" of Aleutian kelp forests, experienced dramatic population declines in the 1990's. In the wake of this event, herbivorous sea urchins proliferated, de-forested the region, and in recent years - with the help of climate change - triggered the widespread collapse of living reefs that have underpinned Alaskan kelp forests for centuries.

Credit

J. Tomoleoni

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