Sea otter population trends worksheet Sea otter population trends worksheet Privacy Policy - Terms of Use - Interest-based Ads 2022 NGC-UK Partnership, All Rights Reserved Credits: 1 Recommended: I would consider this an easier course than the "core" science courses. $4%&'()*56789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz ? So using a variety of established study methods radio tracking, veterinary exams, genetic analysis, diet observations this collaborative group of scientists hopes to uncover new knowledge about this population of Californias iconic sea otters a population that hasnt been extensively studied for 15 years. 52, 7076. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2008.01.003. Marine mariculture may represent an alternative to the commercial and subsistence shellfish fisheries that cannot be sustained in the presence of sea otters. Conflicts between sea otters and fisheries also can take the form of by-catch risk for sea otters. Sea otters are polygamous, meaning they mate with more than one partner throughout their lifetime. Detecting and inferring cause of change in an Alaska nearshore marine ecosystem. /ColorSpace /DeviceRGB Explain. Ecosystems 17, 344359. For example, management could focus on protecting habitats that provide refugia from predation by killer whales and sharks. doi: 10.2307/1381977, Wirsing, A. J., Heithaus, M. R., Frid, A., and Dill, L. M. (2008). Finally, with increasing emphasis on the recovery of endangered species and ecosystem function, we need robust methods to quantify the less tangible benefits of recovery to society, including non-use value. Disease, parasites and predation were identified as possible factors (Miller et al., 2002, 2004; Kreuder et al., 2003; Conrad et al., 2005a,b, Johnson et al., 2009), but it appeared unlikely that these factors fully explained the populations slow growth. /SMask /None>> doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0032205, Larson, S. D., Hoyt, Z. N., Eckert, G. L., and Gill, V. A. Coastal freshwater runoff is a risk factor for Toxoplasma gondii infection of southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis). Evaluating potential conservation conflicts between two listed species: sea otters and black abalone. Sea otters have webbed feet, water-repellent fur to keep them dry and warm, and nostrils . Sea otters serve as sentinels for protozoal pathogens transmitted from the terrestrial hosts to marine mammals. Fish and Wildlife Service, and contributes to our 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive Reston, VA 20192, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, California Sea Otter Surveys and Research, Western Ecological Research Center (WERC). Historically, sea otters numbered in the hundreds of thousands in the North Pacific Ocean, but due to the fur trade, their numbers plummeted in the early 1900s. Geoduck clam (Panopea abrupta) demographics and mortality rates in the presence of sea otters (Enhydra lutris) and commercial harvesting. In 2015, those reintroduced populations accounted for approximately 30% of the nearly 150,000 extant sea otters and occupied more than 50% of the sea otters historical range (Bodkin, 2015). Analysis of 13 years of demographic and genetic data from 1,006 sea otters to assess multiple effective population size estimators, as well as temporal trends in genetic diversity and population . These factors should be quantified, assigned value and incorporated in policy decisions. doi: 10.1046/j.1523-1739.1997.96109.x, Raimondi, P., Jurgens, L. J., and Tinker, M. T. (2015). 9:1289. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2018.01289, Ballachey, B. E., Bodkin, J. L., and DeGange, A. R. (1994). A new pathogen transmission mechanism in the ocean: the case of sea otter exposure to the land-parasite Toxoplasma gondii. For communities dependent on the harvest of shellfish, we will need creative solutions, including research and development into new methods of mariculture. 70, 14981507. (2015). In addition, wolves (Canis lupus) are suspected to take live sea otters both on the Alaska Peninsula and near Glacier Bay in Alaska. Recent abundance estimates indicate a stabilization in the sea otter population in areas where clams are the preferred prey, and increased foraging effort indicates that their population may have reached or even exceeded carrying capacity and become food-limited (Coletti et al., 2016). A lock () or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. The success of the translocations to Southeast Alaska, British Columbia, Canada, and Washington state helped mitigate declines in the Aleutian Islands. Although the FWS declared the translocation a failure, it is quite possible that otter numbers at San Nicolas will continue to grow. Prog. Current efforts center on monitoring the status, trends, distribution, and causes of mortality of otters in this population. Herrick, Jr, and Hanan, D. (1988). Open Fish Sci. We attempt to assign a cause to observed changes by contrasting top-down (sea otter foraging efficiency and prey abundance) and bottom-up (recruitment, growth rates and environmental metrics such as temperature) processes among the four regions and the scale at which changes occur (e.g., similar changes across all areas vs. changes observed asynchronously among regions). Part 2 Top Stud. Foraging data were collected on a total of 2,675 foraging dives in 167 foraging bouts, and the majority of identified prey on successful dives (n=1,335) were sea urchins (940) followed by snails (240) and crabs (78). Killer appetites: Assessing the role of predators in ecological communities. doi: 10.1890/1051-0761(2006)016[2293:IDDARC]2.0.CO;2, Tinker, M. T., and Hatfield, B. The average body mass for males is about 88 pounds, with a range of 49-99 pounds; females range from 31-73 pounds. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-801402-8.00005-6, Lee, J., Watson, C., Trebilco, R., and Salomon, A. K. (2016). The females raise their young without any assistance from the males. Dis. Developing technology is needed to determine dispersal distances in both predator-impacted areas (i.e., the Aleutian Islands) and areas without significant predation pressure to help evaluate translocation needs. Data suggest that mussel bed dynamics may be driven by processes that influence whether or not individuals survive to sizes suitable as sea otter prey, rather than that mussels are driven exclusively by top-down effects of sea otter predation (Coletti et al., 2016). Manage. In both the United States and Canada, sea otters are protected under federal laws including the United States Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, the United States Endangered Species Act of 1973, and Canadas Protection of Species at Risk signed in 2002. That is, compared to the complex coastline of many areas in Alaska and Canada where remnant or translocated populations could expand in many directions simultaneously (allowing higher population growth rates; Bodkin et al., 1999), the California population could expand only in two directions (north and south). Ecosphere 7:e01489. Microsatellite DNA and MtDNA variation in remnant and translocated sea otter (Enhydra lutris) populations. He thereafter lingers in a coma for 2 months and then dies. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the Sea otters are one of the few mammal species that are known to use tools like rocks to hunt and eat food. Fort Collins, CO: National Park Service. Managers have recognized that the southwest Alaska DPS is not one population with common demographics, and the Recovery Plan for this listed stock includes five management units (MUs) within the DPS: (1) Western Aleutian Islands; (2) Eastern Aleutian Islands; (3) South Alaska Peninsula; (4) Bristol Bay; and (5) Kodiak, Kamishak, Alaska Peninsula (U.S. Sea otters were presumed extinct in California after the 19th century fur trade years, but were rediscovered in the 1930s by the public, when as few as 50 animals were documented persisting in nearshore areas off the coast of Big Sur. With increased sea otter foraging effort, GWA has observed a decline in available clam biomass further supporting food limitation as the driver in the sea otter population status. Kuluk Bay is on an open coast, so sea otters there are exposed to killer whales. The first is considered a census, where it is assumed that all animals in an area are counted, and precision is not usually estimated. Sea otter populations in the North Pacific were decimated by the fur trade of the 18th and 19th century, and continue to recover and re-occupy historical habitat. Because of their reproductive system and high fidelity to small annual home ranges, sea otter populations are demographically structured at small spatial scales (Bodkin, 2015), with population dynamics often driven by juvenile mortality rates (Monson et al., 2000). The North Pacific Fur Seal Treaty of 1911, which included sea otters, offered the first legal protection for sea otters in at least some parts of their range (Nichol, 2015) and initiated active, multi-national management so that the species could recover. Oceanogr. Sea otters may homogenize mussel-beds and reduce habitat provisioning in a rocky intertidal ecosystem. /Length 9 0 R Measurements of species composition, size distribution and population densities in these various habitats allow us to look at trends over time. doi: 10.1890/08-0765.1, Williams, P. J., Hooten, M. B., Womble, J. N., Esslinger, G. G., and Bower, M. R. (2018). Instruments attached to the hind flippers are susceptible to removal or destruction by the animal and must be extremely small and lightweight to avoid tearing the flippers webbing. It inhabits coastal waters from the Kuril Islands to the Aleutian Islands southward to the coast of California. Genetically, the southwest Alaskan DPS shows a population structure typical of isolation by distance (USFWS, Anchorage, AK, United States) reflecting the limited dispersal distances of sea otters (Tarjan and Tinker, 2016). The Sea Otter in the Eastern Pacific Ocean North American Fauna. 75, 978989. TEACHER BACKGROUND Unit 3 - The Kelp Forest TEACHER BACKGROUND - Food Chains in the Kelp Forest FOR SEAInstitute of Marine Science 2001 J. The sea otter, in National Science Foundation by the Israel program for scientific, eds A. Birron and Z. S. Cole (Jerusalem: Soviet Ministrov RSFSR), 227. This manuscript has been approved for publication consistent with USGS Fundamental Science Practices (http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/1367/). doi: 10.1111/j.1748-7692.1993.tb00441.x, Kvitek, R. G., and Oliver, J. S. (1992). Managing at smaller scales may not change substantially the cost and logistical challenges of acquiring appropriate data if, for example, research focuses on collecting information on larger areas (e.g., across the western Aleutian chain as is often the case) but simply puts an emphasis on analyzing information at finer spatial scales. Solid lines represent all sea otters and dashed lines represent independents only (non-pups). Carol is in a jurisdiction that recognizes merger for attempt and that also requires, All the patients that visit the Paediatric Orthopaedic Clinic are sent there through reference of family doctors. (2002). Although the population decline slowed when nearshore nets were outlawed, growth still progressed slowly (Estes, 1990; Estes et al., 2003). An important density-independent factor is primary production, which injects carbon and nutrients into the food web (see Question 3). doi: 10.3354/meps11871. Specifically, all extant sea otter populations have low genetic variability because of the population bottlenecks created by the maritime fur harvest (Larson et al., 2002b, 2015). A., van Vliet, G. B., Williams, T. M., Doak, D. F., Danner, E. M., et al. 389, 8596. In recognition of this biological reality, it is time to reconsider the scale at which sea otter populations are defined. 73, 88. Effects of Sea Otter Colonization on Soft-Sediment Intertidal Prey Assemblages in Glacier Bay, Alaska. In that context, the present state of California sea otters isn't terrible. Evidence that this decline is due to the top-down effects of killer whales includes the following: (1) the observed rate of killer whale predation events is consistent with the expected frequency relative to observer effort, (2) declines have occurred in outer coastal habitats but not within lagoon habitats inaccessible to killer whales (e.g., Clam Lagoon on Adak Island), (3) carcasses deposition on beaches has not increased during the decline (i.e., sea otters consumed entirely), (4) energetic calculations show that only a small number of killer whales could explain the decline (i.e., it is feasible that one pod caused the entire decline), (5) the geographic extent of the decline indicates that the cause is not localized (i.e., not from a point-source of contaminants), (6) the lack of evidence of disease or toxins in live-captured animals indicates that disease is not the cause, (7) there has been a dramatic nearshore shift (to within 100 m from shore) in sea otter distribution with the only remaining areas of outer coast sea otter concentrations (hotspots) characterized by shallow, complex reef habitats that are less accessible to killer whales, and (8) sea otter behavior when disturbed has changed (i.e., before the decline sea otters would move offshore, but after the decline they move close to shore or haul out). Sci. Wildl. B., and Murphey, T. G. (2000). Oyster mariculture using net bags or enclosed trays occurs in Kachemak Bay and Prince William Sound, Alaska and on the west coast Vancouver Island, British Columbia, despite the presence of large numbers of sea otters. Look for historical information that might make your narrative more interesting. Can. Future actions to promote the conservation and recovery of the southern sea otter will depend on the results of ongoing research, particularly if needed to respond to human-caused sources of mortality. The monitoring program, at its basic level, includes quarterly seasonal surveys of population abundance, distribution, and foraging activity. Sea otters were once widespread across coastal waters in the Northern Pacific Ocean, from Baja California to Alaska, all the way to rocky reefs in Russia and Japan. Continuation of these surveys and further development and refinement of spatial modeling methods to predict (a) the trajectory of range expansion in a region, (b) the rate of range expansion, and (c) the time frame to various population densities within a region could assist fishery managers in these efforts. (2009). DM wrote Questions 1 and 7. Population demographics and genetic diversity in remnant and translocated populations of sea otters. B., Ames, J. BIOLOGY205 - Population Trends1 2 2 .pdf - Name: Date: Graphing Directions: PRINT the four graphs located on the last two pages of this document. /Width 500 The development of commercial and recreational shellfish fisheries was fueled by the high abundance of benthic invertebrates that developed during the absence of their natural predator, the sea otter. The severity and geographic extent of this decline raise several conservation concerns. Currently, radio telemeters are implanted in the abdominal cavity, which precludes the use of satellite-linked devises because of antenna limitations. Wendell, F. E., Hardy, R. A., and Ames, J. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-801402-8.00001-9, Larson, S. E., Ralls, K., and Ernest, H. (2015). Sea otter conservation genetics, in Sea Otter Conservation, eds S. E. Larson, J. L. Bodkin, and G. R. VanBlaricom (London: Elsevier Academic Press), 97120. Genetic diversity in remnant and translocated sea otter in the Kelp Forest for SEAInstitute of marine Science 2001 J risk! Distribution, and sea otter population trends worksheet, T. G. ( 2000 ) * 56789: CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz make your narrative more.! Ecological communities California sea otters and black abalone with more than one partner their! Context, the present state of California foraging activity Assemblages in Glacier Bay, Alaska Forest for SEAInstitute of Science... 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