Looks like sea otters are doing their part to fight off global warming. Sea otters keep sea urchines in check so that kelp forests which absorb carbon dioxide.
These healthy kelp forests can absorb up to 12 times more carbon dioxide than those ravaged by sea urchins.
This has headlines proclaiming that sea otters are the new heroes in the fight against global warming. This isn't necessarily the case, however.
Co-author of the study Chris Wilmers said that "unlikely to have a big effect on global warming."
"It is significant because it shows that animals can have a big influence on the carbon cycle," Wilmers also said.
The authors also pointed out in their paper that carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere has risen 40 percent since the start of the Industrial Revolution. The focus on an animal's role in the world's carbon cycle could help scientists better offset the human footprint.
"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," Wilmers explained.
"If ecologists can get a better handle on what these impacts are, there might be opportunities for win-win conservation scenarios, whereby animal species are protected or enhanced, and carbon gets sequestered."
The authors also said that anywhere from $205 million to $408 million on the European Carbon Exchange could be the value of the sea otter-kelp relationship.
The team feels that if the complex relationship between animals and their ecosystems is better understood in a way that might be profitable, then animal conservation could gain more traction.
Watch a sea otter eating an urchin:
- Contribute to this Story:
- Send us a tip
- Send us a photo or video
- Suggest a correction
