September 8, 2014 — Fourteen years into a study of Prince William sound sea otters, a research team from Texas A and M University contributes to otter understanding.
The return of sea otters in force to the Prince William Sound is an indication that the ecosystem is returning to a natural balance. So said Randall Davis, who heads the long term study of the behavioral ecology of sea otters in Simpson Bay, which just finished up a season at Alice Cove. The project, 14 years into its 20 year horizon, has made strides toward understanding sea otters, an important predator, and mapped Simpson Bay as a microcosm of Prince William Sound, providing a wealth of data on the region's ecology.
Davis and a number of graduate and undergraduate students spent the summer at a remote camp in Alice Cove. Using three skiffs, they observed a group of otters regularly, noting dive depth and duration, and making behavioral observations. The team also mapped the entire ocean floor of Simpson Bay, learning that otters prefer to make shallow dives of up to 15 meters in "shallow outwash fjord" sediment types. The goal is larger in scope: to develop an ecosystem-based model of the trophic system by understanding how otters interact with their environment as predators. This way, the researchers can quantify the energy in the system and use it as a baseline for better understanding the ecology of the entire Sound. Though Simpson Bay is only 21 square kilometers, the information gleaned from the quantitative study will be used by a number of different people and organizations studying the Prince William Sound.
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