Sea Otters¶
Estes, J. A., & Palmisano, J. F. (1974). Sea Otters: Their Role in Structuring Nearshore Communities. Science, 185(4156), 1058-1060.
Cited by¶
2 citations across 2 artifacts.
Each citation links to the sentence it supports in the citing article.
Primes¶
- Cascade
- Ecology: Removing a top predator releases its prey, whose population explosion then crashes the prey's own food source, reshaping populations down the food web — a trophic cascade in which a single removal propagates through coupled feeding relationships.
This sourceCanonical trophic cascade: removing the apex predator (sea otter) releases sea urchins, whose population explosion overgrazes and collapses the kelp forest — a single removal propagating down a coupled food web.
- Ecology: Removing a top predator releases its prey, whose population explosion then crashes the prey's own food source, reshaping populations down the food web — a trophic cascade in which a single removal propagates through coupled feeding relationships.
- Chesterton's Fence
- Ecology — removing an apparently superfluous species can collapse a trophic web when the species was load-bearing in non-obvious ways (sea otters sustaining kelp forests via urchin control).
This sourceShows sea otters control sea urchins and thereby sustain kelp forests — the keystone trophic constraint whose removal collapses the web.
- Ecology — removing an apparently superfluous species can collapse a trophic web when the species was load-bearing in non-obvious ways (sea otters sustaining kelp forests via urchin control).
Verification¶
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