Additional resources about sea otters and kelp forests:
Curricula for educators
Sea Grant Alaska has a fourth-grade curriculum examining the the relationship between sea otters and kelp, and how scientists conducted their research in the Aleutian Islands.
California Academy of Sciences: “How Stable is Your Food Web?” is a curriculum focused on kelp forests and biodiversity.
Oregon Coast Aquarium: “Diving into Oregon’s Kelp Forests” focuses on kelp forests and sea otters off the Oregon coast.
Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Kelp Forest Digital Resources Teacher’s Guide.
You can find more ideas on Teachingbooks.
Videos
From biointeractive (Howard Hughes Medical Institute): a video looking at keystone species and trophic cascades, featuring sea otters and kelp forests, and how scientists discovered the link between them.
From KQED: a video looking at sea otters and kelp forests, and how kelp forests can help fight against climate change.
Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Sea Otter Cam offers a live view of the aquarium’s sea otters.
Additional Reading
Sea otters aren’t just important to kelp forests. They also are critical to the health of seagrass ecosystems in California. Patricia Newman’s book, Sea Otter Heroes: The Predators that Saved and Ecosystem (Millbrook, 2017) explains the science behind this discovery.
Sea Otter Conservation Issues
While sea otters are crucial to protecting kelp forest habitat in the northern Pacific, the return of the sea otter can create conflict with people because sea otters eat shellfish that many people rely on for income or food. The following resources discuss some of these tradeoffs.
“The Two Sides of Sea Otters,” by Isabelle Groc, from the Nov/Dec 2016 issue of Canadian Wildlife, can be read here.
A story from NPR that discusses the economic tradeoffs of the sea otter’s return can be found here.
Additional resources about Indigenous Peoples and the Maritime Fur Trade:
The following websites provide more information about the histories of Indigenous Peoples in southwestern and south central Alaska:
A History of the Unangax̂ People from the Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association.
The Alutiiq Museum has a wealth of resources on Alutiiq/Sugpiaq culture and history.
The US National Library of Medicine has online resources connected to their exhibit, “Native Voices: Native Peoples’ Concepts of Health and Wellness”, including timelines of specific events during the maritime fur trade. (Please note: The descriptions of events include violence against women and children.)
The Unangax̂/Aleut People
The Sugpiaq/Alutiiq People
North Pacific Fur Seal Treaty of 1911:
For more information on the treaty, which protected sea otters from commercial hunting, click here for a resource from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.