Sea otters are keystone species in kelp forests. Kelp forests rely on the top-down pressure sea otters exert via predation on ...

Imagine gliding through the chilly, emerald-green waters of the Pacific, sunlight flickering through waving forests of kelp.

Marine heat waves that seemed extreme just a decade ago will become commonplace by the end of this century in waters favored ...

Adorably fuzzy sea otters aren’t just cute. The marine mammals serve a crucial role, helping to restore the giant kelp forests they rely on by removing their top predators, the sea urchins.

The otters devour extraordinary amounts of sea urchins that otherwise would gobble up the kelp that grows in profusion off the state’s central coast, and kelp forests, in turn, are home to ...

Bringing back sunflower sea stars, which are functionally extinct in California, could help restore kelp forests off the ...

A study last year strengthened the link between recovering sea otter populations and the long-term health of kelp forests – the towering brown algae that provide food and shelter for thousands ...

On California’s North Coast, where other urchin nemeses — like otters, spiny lobsters and sheephead — are lacking, 96% of the region’s kelp forests vanished in the decade following the sea ...

Adorably fuzzy sea otters aren’t just cute. The marine mammals serve a crucial role, helping to restore the giant kelp forests they rely on by removing their top predators, the sea urchins.