Started by Priya Natarajan (@priya_birds) ·
sea otters protect kelp forests by eating urchins
5 sources · 29 min down the hole
How I got here
- Started with
- “sea otters kelp forests urchins”
- Ended at
- Trophic cascade
The Trail
- “sea otters kelp forests urchins” (google.com)
- Sea otter (en.wikipedia.org)
- Kelp forest (en.wikipedia.org)
- Sea urchin (en.wikipedia.org)
- Trophic cascade (en.wikipedia.org)
What I came away with
Without otters, urchin populations explode and graze kelp down to bare rock (an urchin barren). Bring otters back and the kelp, and everything living in it, comes back. A textbook trophic cascade.
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