Sea otters have long been recognized as a classic example of a keystone species, a dominant predator that maintains the balance of kelp forest ecosystems by controlling populations of sea urchins, which are voracious kelp ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 08, 2021
0
1662
Under increasing global warming, tropical fish are escaping warmer seas by extending their habitat ranges towards more temperate waters.
Ecology
Feb 08, 2021
0
390
(PhysOrg.com) -- The kelp forests off southern California are considered to be some of the most diverse and productive ecosystems on the planet, yet a new study indicates that today's kelp beds are less extensive and lush ...
Ecology
Nov 10, 2009
0
0
The world's giant kelp forests—vital marine wildernesses as important to Earth's ecology as rainforests and coral reefs—are being mapped by a team of international scientists.
Plants & Animals
Jun 11, 2021
4
122
Even the mention of parasites can be enough to make some people's skin crawl. But to recent UC Santa Barbara doctoral graduate Dana Morton these creepy critters occupy important ecological niches, fulfilling roles that, in ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 15, 2021
0
473
Sea urchins receive a lot of attention in California. Red urchins support a thriving fishery, while their purple cousins are often blamed for mowing down kelp forests to create urchin barrens. Yet for all the notice we pay ...
Ecology
Apr 06, 2021
0
1182
Satellite imagery shows that the area covered by kelp forests off the coast of Northern California has dropped by more than 95 percent, with just a few small, isolated patches of bull kelp remaining. Species-rich kelp forests ...
Ecology
Mar 05, 2021
1
7455
Walk along the beach after a winter storm and you'll see a shore littered with wracks of giant kelp, some 30 to 40 feet long—evidence of the storm's impact on coastal kelp forests.
Plants & Animals
Feb 22, 2021
0
274
Deprive a mountain range of its wolves, and soon the burgeoning deer population will strip its slopes bare. "I now suspect that just as a deer herd lives in mortal fear of its wolves, so does a mountain live in mortal fear ...
Ecology
Feb 17, 2021
0
588
Ethereal, swaying pillars of brown kelp along California's coasts grow up through the water column, culminating in a dense surface canopy of thick fronds that provide homes and refuge for numerous marine creatures. There's ...
Earth Sciences
Nov 19, 2020
4
74
