do ecosystems are naturally complex any time you're taking parts out of that ecosystem, you're potentially decreasing the resiliency and the resistance that ecosystem has to things like climate change. This is something that's going on everywhere in the world to different extents in various areas, some are more impacted, some of. But one thing that we like to say about the ocean is when you talk about one part, you're talking about all parts. Yeah. At the Monterey Bay aquarium, scientists worked daily to better understand what those impacts look like. Our mission statement is to inspire conservation of the ocean. So that's *** broad topic. Obviously part of that is showing people, animals and ecosystems that they wouldn't normally see. But for all the unique and rare creatures that are on display, there is *** lot more going on behind the scenes at the aquarium dedicated to supporting wildlife that is native to the California coastline. We have an order rehabilitation and release program three. Let's say we have an abandoned pup, we'll bring that up in. You got it. Some mother otters will act as surrogate mothers to those otters, teach them to feed and other things until they get big enough where they can live out on their own and we'll release them out into the environment. Those mother otters are also ambassadors for their species available for aquarium guests to see every day. And there's *** good reason that the aquarium focuses on others. Specifically. We like to think of otters and they are as ecosystem engineers. So in addition to being part of the ecosystem that they're in. They also help uh shift that ecosystem and and change how it's developing um, in *** better way, in *** more natural way because they are part of the natural ecosystem. Yeah. For 14 years the aquarium released rehabilitated otters into the Elkhorn slough that's near Moss landing California, *** region where the otter population was declining and the natural ecosystem was collapsing. *** lot of the sea grass had been degraded because it wasn't *** natural ecosystem and you had an imbalance in the nature there. Uh, you had the eel grass not growing as well. You had an abundance of predators that were eating the eelgrass. You had choking out of the eelgrass due to competitors. Um, when we introduced the otters back in their uh, they control the predators that also allowed the eelgrass to to really flourish and doing really well now so that we've got *** lot more eelgrass, much healthier ecosystem and sequestering *** lot more carbon. So not only making the ecosystem better for all the animals in it, but also acting as this really, really good sequestration of carbon proof of otters importance in that corner of the world, but why was the otter population declining at Elkhorn Slough in the first place? Yeah, climate change is affecting otter food. It's affecting their habitat and it's affecting the predators In Monterey Bay itself. We're seeing about *** 1.5° Higher average temperature than we were, you know, 60 years ago or so. We've also got *** lowering of ph which is an increasing acidity and that's because as carbon dioxide dissolves in the ocean, it creates carbonic acid which lowers the ph and raises the acidity level. And in more acidic oceans, creatures with shells suffer as they lose the ability to maintain their protective hard exteriors. So going back to the otter example, otters are gonna be eating *** lot of those shellfish. That's that's part of their their main prey. If those aren't doing as well because of lower ph because of climate change, that's going to impact the otters there. In addition to shellfish, others rely on kelp forests to hide from their own predators and by snacking on sea urchins, otters help their kelp dwellings thrive. So it's the symbiotic relationship, but if the kelp isn't doing as well because of climate change, and that means the otters have less habitat and the odds of an otter swimming into one of its predators is increasing. Another thing we're seeing in our research is that some of the predators of otters are shifting their ranges so that now they're overlapping with the range of otters much more. And so we're getting increased predation specifically by white sharks, juvenile white sharks, which are shifting it seems as though they've shifted their range north and are now overlapping with otters *** lot more um understanding how those things interact is gonna help us, as we do. Uh auto rehabilitation and auto reintroduction. Where's the best place that we want to put an order in that its chance of survival is going to be the best. And so understanding all those complex interactions is difficult, but it's something we need to do in order to do the work that we need to do because sea otters play such *** vital role in *** healthy planet in the water and out. But one thing that we like to say about the ocean is when you talk about one part, you're talking about all parts and in order to understand all of those parts, we need to know more about the water itself. Just north of the Monterey Bay aquarium, scientists with the Monterey Bay aquarium research Institute are working on just that. We'd like to know if they're you know if if if there is going to be an ecosystem catastrophe, you'd kind of like to have *** sense before it happens that it might be, you might be heading that way because in addition to being home to countless species, the ocean also plays an enormous role in moderating earth's climate. The ocean provides these great services. It actually sequesters *** large amount of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere as Co Two rises in the air as we burn fossil fuels. Uh 25% of that C. 02 goes into the ocean, but that absorption that 25% is not *** guaranteed thing. Yeah. Mhm. Because all that extra carbon dioxide is leading to accelerated warming in the water by the same process that it accelerates warming in the air. Yeah. Yeah. If for some reason in *** warmer ocean, we know, I mean the measurements are really clear the ocean is warming if for some reason the productivity of the ocean declines the plants. They're not taking as much C. 02 up um in the future the ocean is gonna sequester less of that 25%. And you know, this is *** great service the ocean provides to us. The earth would be warming faster if if um the ocean weren't absorbing, you know, *** significant chunk of the C. 02. That's an assumption based on what we know about how the carbon cycle works. We don't know much about how the ocean has historically reacted to climate shifts and vice versa. One solution create *** huge observing network to start measuring those changes. These are our floats that we have put in the ocean and there are about 300 dots on on that map. So the floats that are that have lost their batteries are little dots and the ones that are running now are big dots. Most of these floats are in the southern ocean each taking real time measurements of the water down to two km. Our project is putting hundreds of robots into the ocean with sensors on them. Very basic sensors now that as I say, measure metabolism. Yeah, thanks, sort of like when you go to the hospital, they don't immediately put you in the MRI machine, whatever they take your blood pressure, your temperature, get your basic metabolic rate. Two look at her girl. Those so called vital signs in the ocean include temperature, acidity levels, oxygen levels, and nitrate levels. So we were the first to do ph and first to do nitrate. And our colleague at the University of Washington was the first person to put oxygen. This data can provide insight into whether *** region of the ocean has flourishing plant life or not. Plants growing faster slower. We don't really actually know the rate they're growing at all. And so we're right now trying to get *** get *** baseline metabolism. And as we extend these measurements out for decades, we'll be able to tell, you know, is the ocean getting greener more plants growing? Is it getting bluer less plants growing? That exciting future? Is is when we actually get not only the metabolic rate, but we can, you know, do the equivalent of putting *** sample in the MRI Machine, *** future where scientists can track plant growth in the ocean as *** way to predict how much carbon dioxide the ocean can store And how heavily that CO2 is impacting the ecosystem from the sea floor to the surface. For so many scientists whose work intersects with climate the motivation comes from thinking globally. I think different people think about the world differently and think about their relationship to the world differently. Um, I don't want to live in *** world that I'm not trying to make better, um, *** better world by the time I'm out of it than when I got into it, I think there's *** lot of people, especially at some place like the Monterey Bay aquarium. I think everyone feels that way and they work really hard and they're very motivated and they're not gonna give up. It's inspiring. If you are interested in supporting the conservation efforts of the Monterey Bay aquarium, visit Monterey Bay aquarium dot org. And educators looking for hands on experience with ocean science can also adopt one of them berries, floating sensors for their classroom. More information can be found at M B *** R I dot org For photo journalist Jack Noonan. I'm meteorologist Heather Waldman for KCRA three News. Yeah.