Paleoecology

[Sully]

"The evidence we review suggests that Steller’s sea cows exerted substantial direct and indirect influences on kelp forests, likely affecting the physical ecosystem structure, productivity, nutrient cycling, species interactions, and export of nutrients to surrounding ecosystems. This suggests that kelp forest dynamics and resilience were already significantly altered prior to the influence of more recent and well-known stressors, such as industrial fishing and climate change, and illustrates the important ecological roles that are lost with megafaunal extinction."

The ghost of a giant – Six hypotheses for how an extinct megaherbivore structured kelp forests across the North Pacific Rim Reply