Species recovery and recolonization of past habitats: lessons for science and conservation from sea otters in estuaries.

ABSTRACT: Recovering species are often limited to much smaller areas than they historically occupied. Conservation planning for the recovering species is often based on this limited range, which may simply be an artifact of where the surviving population persisted. Southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis) were hunted nearly to extinction but recovered from a small remnant population on a remote stretch of the California outer coast, where most of their recovery has occurred. However, studies of recently-recolonized estuaries have revealed that estuaries can provide southern sea otters with high quality habitats featuring shallow waters, high production and ample food, limited predators, and protected haul-out opportunities. Moreover, sea otters can have strong effects on estuarine ecosyste

SUBMITTER: Hughes BB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6910117 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature