How is it that sea otters canactually help our environment? Apparently they already are! Sea otters thatprey on urchins are in their own way attacking harmful carbon emissions!Urchins consume greenhouse gas-absorbing kelp and when the otters eat theurchins the otters help the plants to grow. A kelp forest that an otter helpsout actually ‘ can absorb as much as 12 times the amount of CO2 from theatmosphere’ says a study in the Frontiersof Ecology and the Environment. Are the otters making a major impactthough? On their own local environments yes, but they aren’t exactly fighting afull on attack against the emissions. Jeffrey Dukes of the Purdue ClimateChange Research Center in Indiana says that in the grand scheme of things thelittle bit of CO2 absorption increase doesn’t affect it very much. The seaotter is indeed helping the environment by smashing the sea urchins againsttheir chest! With the sea otters destroying a sea urchin more kelp forest cangrow and absorb the carbon being emitted into the air. The more the kelp growsthe more carbon emissions can be absorbed into these helpful plants. The seaotter is acting as the protector of the kelp against the sea urchins and alsomake a small contribution to the fight against carbon emissions!


Article: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/09/120910-sea-otters-global-warming-urchins-kelp-frontiers-science/