The information you enter will appear in your e-mail message and is not retained by Phys.org in any form. Being a small-bodied marine mammal in cold waters presents a real thermal challenge, says Traver Wright, a comparative physiologist at Texas A&M University in College Station. However, we do not guarantee individual replies due to the high volume of messages. Reisewitz, J. Because these proton leaks increase the amount of energy lost as heat, otters need to eat more food to make up for that lost energy, revving up their metabolism. For the survey, 224 people participated out of a potential of 364 viewers (61.4%). The events are designed to directly align with the Aquariums mission, to inspire conservation of the marine environment. University of California - Santa Cruz. | (206) 543-6521, 2023 University of Washington | Beyond species-specific considerations, any reintroduction effort must consider ecosystem-level implications. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. They will remain accessible to anyone who wants to watch them in the future. Jaime Chambers was a 2021 AAAS Mass Media Fellow with Science News. While much focus has been placed on the effects of heat stress on scleractinian corals-including bleaching, mortality, and loss of reef structural complexity-and many studies have documented changes to reef fish communities arising indirectly from shifts in benthic composition, the direct impacts . Sea otters are creatures steeped in superlatives. A new study shows how the high metabolism of adult and baby sea otters begins at the cellular level. Moreover, indirect interactions Sea otters also play a singular role in supporting kelp forests ecosystems in the North Pacific. Click on the following key terms used on this web page to see their definitions on the glossary page: Sign up to receive our monthly email updates. The other is a metabolism more than double that of any land mammal of the same size. Study shows how sea otters can reduce CO2 in the atmosphere - Phys.org Society for Science & the Public 20002023. In 2020, echoing language of the MMPA, the U.S. Congress recognized that sea otters play a critical ecological role in the marine environment as a keystone species that significantly affects the structure structure Something temporarily or permanently constructed, built, or placed; and constructed of natural or manufactured parts including, but not limited to, a building, shed, cabin, porch, bridge, walkway, stair steps, sign, landing, platform, dock, rack, fence, telecommunication device, antennae, fish cleaning table, satellite dish/mount, or well head. Some of these effects are perceived as beneficial to people, and others are perceived as negative. To me, this is probably one of the clearest pieces of evidence saying, Heres how they did it, Williams says. Thanks for reading Scientific American. Disclaimer. --. Kelp is particularly efficient at sequestering CO2 from the atmosphere through photosynthesis. www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1890/110176, Journal information: Our fish studies focused on rock greenling (Hexagrammos lagocephalus), the numerically dominant species in this region. The loss or recovery of apex predators can have profound positive or negative ecological and socio-economic impacts. Without it, they starve. I believe the speakers did an amazing job at articulating climate change through an animal lens, and they highlighted multiple ways that climate change will impact the marine environment and how sea otters can help mitigate those changes.