Loss of Top Predators Has More Far-Reaching Effects than Thought

07/14/11 Sea otters eat sea urchins and sea urchins eat kelp. When sea otters are present, the coastal kelp forests maintain a healthy balance. But when the fur trade wiped out the otters in the Aleutian Islands in the 1990s, sea urchins grew wildly, devouring kelp, and the kelp forest collapsed, along with everything that depended on it. Fish populations declined. Bald eagles, which feed on fish ...

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Loss of Top Predators Has Far-Reaching Effects

07/14/11 Photo credit: Young aspen trees in Yellowstone National Park. Photo by William Ripple, courtesy of Oregon State University. Sea otters eat sea urchins and sea urchins eat kelp. When sea otters are present, the coastal kelp forests maintain a healthy balance. But when the fur trade wiped out the otters in the Aleutian Islands in the 1990s, sea urchins grew wildly, devouring kelp, and the kelp ...

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No tsunami watch from magnitude 6.1 Alaska quake

07/16/11 ANCHORAGE (Alaska) - AN EARTHQUAKE of 6.1 magnitude rocked a portion of Alaska's eastern Aleutian Islands on Saturday, but no tsunami warning was anticipated and there were no reports of damage, officials said. The earthquake was centered about 80 kilometres south-west of Sand Point, a fishing community with nearly 1,000 residents, said the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer ...

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