In “How sea otters can fight climate change,” Ula Chrobak (2021) states that sea otters have a great role in maintaining the whole ecosystem and fighting climate change. They are also called “keystone” species, as they have been keeping their ecosystem in check. Based on the article, carbon emission can be considered as one of our environmental crises. Scientists have been studying the heroes that will help us with climate change, and that maybe is the sea otters. Sea otters can store carbon as biomass, which will take a lot of time to change back from solid to gas form. Sea otters also aid kelp forests, without those otters kelp forests will shockingly turn into deserts. Moreover, kelps are normally harmed by sea urchins. But since sea urchins are the otter’s source of food, they can be controlled at the appropriate level with the presence of otters so that the proportion of kelp growth will increase. The main point is that kelps have the ability to attract more carbon dioxide for photosynthesis than land plants. This means that with more kelp, less carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. In the article, Chrobak supports this view by pointing out the experiment which said that “with the presence of sea otters, the studied area can store up to 8.7 million tonnes of Carbon, which is more carbon than that emitted from a million passenger cars for a year.” With all these factors, climate change can be reduced, the marine ecosystem will be able to maintain its balance and provide animals with quality habitats and food.
Reference
Chrobak, U. (2021, September, 15). How sea otters can fight climate change. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210914-how-sea-otters-help-fight-climate-change
Your paragraph’s topic is really useful and easy to understand. I’m very interesting to know how sea otters can benefit to our environment a lot.
ReplyDeleteI thought that otters were cute animals, but other than that they used to be killed in massive numbers to be turned into fur coats for rich people, I didn't really know much about their impact on the environment. Like Yok, I found Mook's paragraph very informative on that. I suppose if I had thought about it, I might have realized that they must have filled an important role in the ecological systems where they lived, but it was only after reading Mook's piece of work that thought about those issues, and was reminded of how fragile an environmental system can be.
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ReplyDeleteI have never knew how otters were so helpful for the environment. I think scientist might discover a new way to combat climate change by studying otters and kelps process.
ReplyDeleteActually, I do not know much about otters before and when I read Mook's summary, I surprised that they playing a big role in ecosystem and also helping the climate change. I also agree with Peter that otters were so adorable. I feel that with their appearance which were very cute, someone might use them to be a character in cartoon. As I google it, Pixar had including otters in Finding Dory and Zootopia! The person who can resist the cuteness of otters and kill them must be extremely cruel.
ReplyDeleteCuddle Party with Otters from Finding Dory | Pixar Side-by-Side
Zootopia Emmitt Otterton missing HD
Another surprising fact as I googled about otters, we do have otters living in Thailand!
Otters reconquer Thai beach in tourists' absence
When I was young I used to watch these documentaries about wildlife, and my one of my favorite animals documentaries to watch was the otters(it is so cute when they were floating on their backs and just relaxing). Like Sea, before I read your summary, I only thought that they were adorable, and did not have any significant benefit to help stop Climate Change. I wonder what other kinds of heroes can help the environment.
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