Feeding Ecology of Sea Otters in Soft-Bottom Habitats
{'Code': '01020303', 'Directorate': {'Abbreviation': 'O/D', 'LongName': 'Office Of The Director'}, 'Division': {'Abbreviation': 'OPP', 'LongName': 'Office of Polar Programs'}}
{'SignBlockName': 'Polly A. Penhale', 'PO_EMAI': 'ppenhale@nsf.gov', 'PO_PHON': '7032927420'}
Sea otters are unique among all the marine mammals because large                foraging fronts are invading historical feeding grounds as the sea              otter populations recover and expand their range.  This population              expansion provides important natural experiments that help to evaluate          how otters affect prey populations, non-prey communities and benthic            habitats.  Although most previous studies of the community role of              otters derive from the rocky shore, none have documented these                  exciting natural experiments and almost nothing is known about the              foraging habitats of otters in soft-sediment environments.  Oliver              proposes to establish long-term studies of how sea otters utilize               soft-sediment prey communities, which are primarily dominated by                clams.  The general approach is to locate active foraging fronts and            to establish permanent underwater transects.  These transects will be           located in old feeding grounds that are heavily exploited, in recently          invaded sites that are heavily exploited, in relatively unexploited             feeding grounds that will be invaded by otters, and in unexploited              areas that are not likely to be used by otters.  One such gradient of           feeding activity exists around Afognak Strait, by Kodiak Island.                Although the quantitative sampling that will be done along existing             feeding gradients (foraging fronts) will provide considerable insight           into how changes in sea otter populations relate to changes in prey             communities, the long-term monitoring of permanent transects is even            more important and will provide the most direct evidence for the sea            otter's role in structuring soft-sediment communities.  This work is            closely coordinated with population and behavior studies of sea otters          that will be done by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Alaska.              This is a Research in Undergraduate Institutions Award.
{'FirstName': 'John', 'LastName': 'Oliver', 'PI_MID_INIT': 'S', 'PI_SUFX_NAME': None, 'PI_FULL_NAME': 'John S Oliver', 'EmailAddress': 'oliver@mlml.calstate.edu', 'NSF_ID': '000465985', 'StartDate': '09/01/1987', 'EndDate': None, 'RoleCode': 'Principal Investigator'}
{'Name': 'San Jose State University', 'CityName': 'SAN JOSE', 'ZipCode': '951921000', 'PhoneNumber': '4082772000', 'StreetAddress': '1 WASHINGTON SQ', 'StreetAddress2': None, 'CountryName': 'United States', 'StateName': 'California', 'StateCode': 'CA', 'CONGRESSDISTRICT': '18', 'CONGRESS_DISTRICT_ORG': 'CA18', 'ORG_UEI_NUM': 'ZM6PVFEKEHK1', 'ORG_LGL_BUS_NAME': 'SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY', 'ORG_PRNT_UEI_NUM': 'ZM6PVFEKEHK1'}
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