14 DAY TRIAL // The online journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment has only recently seen the publication of a new study arguing that otters are one of our most efficient weapons against climate change, simply because they like to eat a lot and the favorite thing on their menu is sea urchins.
As the environmental scientists who looked into this issue explain, sea urchins typically like to feed on live kelp forests. However, whenever otters happen to be around, they are forced to hide and settle for only eating whatever kelp scraps happen to make their way to the ocean's floor.
Seeing how aquatic kelp forests are known for their ability to capture and trap CO2 from the atmosphere, it comes as good news that otters help them prosper.
More precisely, they boost their ability to tackle climate change by dealing with this harmful chemical compound that keeps building up in the air as a result of various human activities.
Commenting on these findings, professor Chris Wilmers explained how, “Right now, all the climate change models and proposed methods of sequestering carbon ignore animals. But animals the world over, working in different ways to influence the carbon cycle, might actually have a large impact.”
He further elaborated on this issue as follows: “If ecologists can get a better handle on what these impacts are, there might be opportunities for win-win conservations scenarios, whereby animal species are protected or enhanced, and carbon gets sequestered.”
The official website for the University of California Santa Cruz informs us that these conclusions regarding the role otters play in the carbon cycle were reached by combining data collected throughout a period of time of approximately 40 years.
To cut a long story short, both the otters living close to the Vancouver Island, and the local kelp forests were closely monitored by environmental scientists.
As well as this, careful measurements were conducted to determine exactly how these animals influence the dynamics of their surrounding natural ecosystems.
According to the same source, the organizations that provided the necessary money to carry out this research were the US National Science Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.