New study shows sea otters helped prevent widespread California kelp forest declines
Monterey Bay Aquarium | Published on 1/19/2024
"Our study showed that kelp forests are more extensive and resilient to climate change where sea otters have reoccupied the California coastline during the last century. Where sea otters are absent, kelp forests have declined dramatically. In fact, we found sea otter population density as the strongest predictor of change in kelp canopy coverage across this hundred-year span," said lead author Teri Nicholson, Senior Research Biologist with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Sea Otter Program.
Read the full article at Phys.org.
