[csusbpeace] Sea Otters Are Adorable Stewards Of Underwater Sea Grass Meadows
- From: "raccoon" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> ("bigraccoon1")
- To: "CSUSBPEACE@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <CSUSBPEACE@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 16 Oct 2021 21:23:59 -0700
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/otters-sea-grass-meadows_n_616b39b0e4b079111a4aa25f
<https://www.huffpost.com/entry/otters-sea-grass-meadows_n_616b39b0e4b079111a4aa25f>
Sea Otters Are Adorable Stewards Of Underwater Sea Grass Meadows
Just an-otter reason to love these marine mammals.
10/16/2021
It turns out when sea otters are foraging for dinner, they’re also doing a
huge favor to the ecosystem.
According to new research, the critters have positive effect on sea grass
meadows, a crucial part of the underwater environment
<https://myfwc.com/research/habitat/seagrasses/information/importance/> that
help stabilize the ocean floor, improve water quality and serve as food for
some species and habitat for others.
Nuno Valadas / 500px via Getty Images
Sea otters disturb these meadows when they dig for clams, and their presence
is marked by bare patches and indentations from all the digging, according to
National Geographic
<https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/sea-otters-make-seagrass-meadows-resilient>.
Though some might assume that means otters aren’t so great for the grass,
ecologist Jane Watson noticed in the 1990s that where sea otters thrived, so
did sea grass, The New York Times reported
<https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/14/science/sea-otters-grass-sex.html>.
Decades later, Watson’s idea inspired her former student, Erin Foster, to
lead a study on the matter. Watson, who conducted the seagrass research while
completing a PhD at the University of Victoria, co-authored a paper on the
findings, which was published Friday in the journal Science
<https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abf2343>.
As it turned out, Watson was right all along. The researchers studied meadows
of eelgrass <https://www.edc.uri.edu/restoration/html/gallery/plants/eel.htm>
― a type of sea grass ― in British Columbia, and found that they had
significantly higher genetic diversity in areas where otters were present.
Not only that, but the longer that otters had been living in a particular
area, the higher the genetic diversity among the eelgrass.
Eelgrass.
Andrey Nekrasov via Getty Images
So how do otters do this? The answer has to do with the fact that eelgrass
can reproduce two ways
<https://www.aquariumofpacific.org/onlinelearningcenter/species/eelgrass> ―
clonally or sexually. Clonally basically means that each new plant is
genetically identical to its predecessor; sexually means that the plants
reproduce via pollination, and that each new plant has genetic material from
each of its parent plants. The researchers believe that otters disturbing the
grass specifically encourages sexual reproduction in the eelgrass, which
creates a more genetically diverse meadow.
That’s good news for the grass, which is vulnerable to numerous threats, from
climate change-fueled ocean acidification and warming water temperatures to
pollution from fertilizer runoff and severe disruption from human activities
like dredging for development. More genetic diversity gives the grass a
better shot of long-term survival.
“Genetic diversity typically builds resilience to change, and considering the
challenges we’re facing ... this will be important for eelgrass meadows,”
Foster told National Geographic.
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