Green crabs have invaded habitats. Sea otters might be the solution.

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1. From the article:

   > An invasive species had taken over ecosystems across the West Coast and was threatening to dominate another one in Monterey County, California, when ecologist Rikke Jeppesen began her research two decades ago.

   > Jeppesen was seeking solutions for the havoc green crabs had caused — damaging sea grass beds in multiple states, eating small prey crucial to other species’ survival and persisting despite frequent efforts to remove them. One state even spent millions of dollars to protect its waters from the crabs, which are native to Europe.

   > But to her surprise, Jeppesen learned there was a much simpler way to remove the crabs in the slough she studied: furry and hungry sea otters.

   > Sea otters are rare in most ecosystems after they were hunted to near extinction in the 18th and 19th centuries. But at California’s Elkhorn Slough, a reserve where about 120 southern sea otters live, the cute apex predators have led to green crabs’ demise by eating up to 120,000 of the invasive species as a group per year.

   > The researchers said their findings, published in the Biological Invasions journal this month, show the importance of protecting otters and other native predators at a time when there are about 1 million plant and animal species at risk of extinction.

   > “Sea otters are the assistant managers of the slough in helping us keep invaders in check,” Jeppesen, who now works for the reserve, told The Washington Post.

2. [Link to the research paper cited in the story. ](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10530-024-03467-3?utm_source=rct_congratemailt&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=oa_20241210&utm_content=10.1007%2Fs10530-024-03467-3)

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