Global Warming front fighters, Sea ottersby | 31-07-2013 21:44 |
|---|
  I saw an interesting article that animal species are able to play a great role in cutting out carbon, and sea otter is a front runner in that fight. According to 'Discovery', researchers at the university of California, santa cruz, looked at 40 years of data on otters and kelp blooms from Vancouver Island to the western edge of Alaska's Aleutian Islands. They said they found that sea otters have a positive indirect effect on kelp biomass by preying on sea urchins. One of the researchers, Prof.Chris Wilmers, said that the finding is important because it shows that animals can have a big influence on the carbon cycle. He noted that a spreading otter population won't solve the problem of higher CO2 in the atmosphere but argue that the restoration and protection of otters is an example how managing animal populations can affect ecosystems abilities to sequester carbon. As the researchers from the study acknowledges, if the animals world around working in different ways might impact a lot on carbon cycle, this will be the genuine win win scenario. Source: Discovery. Images: Google |
