MONTEREY — Within the last century, the recovery of southern sea otters, the unofficial mascot of Central California, has contributed to the health of California’s underwater forests according to a ...

Their fur is so soft it almost led to their extinction, but otters’ recovery has been a boon to Pacific kelp forests, a key ...

Kelp is a large, brown algae that lives in relatively shallow waters close to shore. They grow in large groups that resemble forests on land. These kelp forests are important because they contain a ...

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. When ...

With their roly-poly bodies, child-like eyes, long whiskers and tiny padded paws, otters are some of the most charismatic animals in nature. But while being cute doesn't serve much purpose in the wild ...

The sunflower sea star can be found throughout intertidal and subtidal coastal waters of the northeast Pacific Ocean, from Alaska to at least northern Baja California, Mexico. Sea urchins appear to ...

Sea stars could play a key role in protecting threatened kelp forests, according to new research from University of Oregon and Oregon State University scientists. The study, published Wednesday in ...

The kelp forest is my favorite ecosystem on Earth. I first began diving into these nearshore waters off the California coast three years ago. Shortly after, I began taking my camera down with me to ...

To uncover 'sea cow effect,' researchers developed a novel Past-Present-Future modeling approach that could inform more effective conservation strategies across ecosystems. For millions of years, the ...

Ripple, Splash and Tidy do their best to clean the Kelp Forest before it is too late. After putting some orange sea stars in the Kelp Forest where they don’t belong, Splash, Ripple, and Tidy must get ...

MONTEREY — Within the last century, the recovery of southern sea otters, the unofficial mascot of Central California, has contributed to the health of California’s underwater forests according to a ...