Atlas8 min read
The Alaska Peninsula: Where Two Seas Collide over Kelp
An 800-km volcanic chain between the North Pacific and the Bering Sea — passes, salmon rivers, cold kelp forests on one side, sand on the other.
Jack Callum ·
#sea-otters
13 articles
Atlas10 min read
The Gulf of Alaska: A Thousand Leagues of Kelp Shore
From Southeast Alaska's fjords to the Aleutian storm line, the Gulf of Alaska holds one of Earth's largest kelp coasts — and the otters it was built around.
Dr. Lena Fischer ·
Explore9 min read
Wildlife Ethics in the Kelp: How Close Is Too Close?
A diver and snorkeller's ethics guide for kelp forests: safe distances for seals, otters and sharks, body language to read, and how to watch without chasing.
Tom Okafor ·
Science9 min read
Keystone Species Explained: From Paine's Starfish to Kelp Forest Otters
Keystone species hold ecosystems together despite small numbers. How Robert Paine's starfish experiment defined the idea — and what it means for kelp forests.
Dr. Theo Nakamura ·
Atlas9 min read
Kodiak: Bears Above, Kelp Below on Alaska's Emerald Coast
Brown bears above, sea otters in the kelp below — a guide to the reefs, salmon rivers and cold-water richness of Alaska's Kodiak Archipelago.
Tom Okafor ·
Atlas8 min read
The Kuril Islands: Kelp Forests on the Pacific's Fiercest Arc
Volcanoes, fog and the cold Oyashio — a guide to the kelp forests of the Kuril Islands, among the least-disturbed seaweed coasts left on Earth.
Tom Okafor ·
Atlas8 min read
Prince William Sound: Kelp Recovery in a Fjorded Sea
Glacial fjords, returning sea otters and slow kelp regrowth after oil and ice loss — a field guide to Prince William Sound, Alaska's living laboratory.
Tom Okafor ·
Science7 min read
The Working Dive: How Sea Otters' Bodies Power a Lifetime in Cold Water
Sea otters dive 40-90 seconds at a time, all day, in cold water — with the densest fur of any mammal and one of the fastest metabolisms. Here's how the physiology works.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Science7 min read
The Kelp Forest Food Web: Who Eats What
A map of the kelp forest food web — from drifting fronds and grazing urchins to otters, octopus and rockfish — and why detritus powers most of it.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Science9 min read
Trophic Cascades in Kelp Forests: How Sea Otters Keep Forests Standing
A trophic cascade happens when a predator's removal rewrites an entire ecosystem. The sea otter–urchin–kelp story is ecology's classic case — here's how it works.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Field Notes8 min read
Counting Otters at Catalina: A Dawn Colony-Watch and What the Numbers Told Us
Sea otters are strangers at Catalina — so when one appeared over Tidewright's restoration block, we built a dawn count around him. What the survey found.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Field Notes9 min read
Field Notes: The Day the Otters Came Back
Two years after Tidewright reseeded an urchin barren off the Monterey Peninsula, a raft of sea otters moved in. Field notes on what that return really signals.
Jack Callum ·
Science7 min read
Trophic Cascades: The Idea That Turned Food Chains Upside Down
How a handful of scientists — from Paine's starfish to Estes's sea otters — discovered that predators architect entire ecosystems from the top down.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·