Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Volume 289, Issue 1967, Pages -Publisher
ROYAL SOC
DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.1697
Keywords
trophic cascade; alternative stable states; risk landscapes; management
Categories
Funding
- David and Lucile Packard Foundation
- UC Santa Cruz
- Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
- National Science Foundation [OCE-1752600]
- National Park Service
- US Geological Survey
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Recognizing that humans are part of the complex interaction networks we study can provide new insights into ecological paradigms. This study examines the effects of human harvesting on otter-urchin-kelp trophic cascades in southeast Alaska, using three decades of time-series data.
Humans were considered external drivers in much foundational ecological research. A recognition that humans are embedded in the complex interaction networks we study can provide new insight into our ecological paradigms. Here, we use time-series data spanning three decades to explore the effects of human harvesting on otter-urchin-kelp trophic cascades in southeast Alaska. These effects were inferred from variation in sea urchin and kelp abundance following the post fur trade repatriation of otters and a subsequent localized reduction of otters by human harvest in one location. In an example of a classic trophic cascade, otter repatriation was followed by a 99% reduction in urchin biomass density and a greater than 99% increase in kelp density region wide. Recent spatially concentrated harvesting of otters was associated with a localized 70% decline in otter abundance in one location, with urchins increasing and kelps declining in accordance with the spatial pattern of otter occupancy within that region. While the otter-urchin-kelp trophic cascade has been associated with alternative community states at the regional scale, this research highlights how small-scale variability in otter occupancy, ostensibly due to spatial variability in harvesting or the risk landscape for otters, can result in within-region patchiness in these community states.
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