Driven to the brink of extinction by the maritime fur trade, sea otter recovery is a remarkable success story, one with broad implications to our understanding of their life history, ecology, and socio-ecology. Sea Otter Conservation II: Nearshore Ecosystem Restoration summarizes current knowledge regarding sea otter recovery and the role it plays in the restoration and resilience of coastal systems. Written by experts in the field, this volume describes the influence of sea otters in kelp, seagrass, salt marsh, and mixed sediment communities, and how their ecological effects can link marine and terrestrial systems. The authors consider the ecological and socio-ecological consequences of the maritime fur trade, the ways in which abundant food and space have affected sea otter recovery, and the potential of future sea otter reintroductions to aid their recovery and that of related ecosystems. This book reviews the latest methods in monitoring sea otter behaviour, population status and genetic diversity, and the impact of climate change on sea otters and their associated communities. Sea Otter Conservation II: Nearshore Ecosystem Restoration is an important resource for anyone studying ecology, conservation, or restoration.
Chapter 1. How the history of harvest and recovery influenced our understanding of the ecological role of sea otters
Chapter 2. Sea otters and rocky reef communities
Chapter 3. The role of sea otters in seagrass and salt marsh communities
Chapter 4. Sea otters in mixed sediment habitats
Chapter 5. Sea otter-mediated linkages among oceanic, nearshore, and terrestrial ecosystems
Chapter 6. A catastrophic and unintended experiment: Revising our understanding of sea otters and their social and ecological importance based on a system in transition
Chapter 7. Monitoring sea otter population recovery from the maritime fur trade
Chapter 8. The intersection of individual space use and landscape-level geography and their defining influence on sea otter conservation
Chapter 9. What drives sea otter population growth and recovery: A large-scale perspective
Chapter 10. Insights from molecular methods into past and present sea otter populations
Chapter 11. Reintroductions and restoring nearshore ecosystems ‑‑ the Elakha Alliance: A new approach to sea otter conservation
Chapter 12. Envisioning sea otter recovery in the 21st century
Dr Shawn Larson received her Ph.D. from the University of Washington School of Aquatic and Fishery Science, has been the Curator of Conservation Research at the Seattle Aquarium for 22 years, and has been studying shark biology and ecology for 14 years. Dr Larson has published over 50 peer-reviewed scientific papers and abstracts on the biology and ecology of marine animals. Dr Larson has organized and run international shark conservation workshops for over 12 years and is currently a member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Northeast Pacific Shark Specialist Group tasked with defining the conservation status of all shark species in the northeastern Pacific.
Dr James Bodkin is a Research Wildlife Biologist Emeritus at the United States Geological Survey based at the Alaska Science Center. His research expertise includes population biology and ecology of marine mammals, population estimation, predator/prey relations, marine conservation, and more. He is a member of the Society for Conservation Biology, the American Society of Mammalogy, the Society for Marine Mammalogy, and the Wildlife Society.
Dr Erin Foster is a postdoctoral research scientist in the Cetacean Research Program at the Pacific Biological Station for Fisheries and Oceans Canada. She received her PhD from the University of Victoria, with a dissertation on sea otters and soft-sediment flora and fauna. Her research work includes examining the roles of sea otters in structuring soft sediment communities, altering eelgrass reproductive strategies and genetic diversity, and ancient Indigenous maricultural practices.