Keystone speciesA keystone species is a species that has a disproportionately large effect on its natural environment relative to its abundance, a concept introduced in 1969 by the zoologist Robert T. Paine. Keystone species play a critical role in maintaining the structure of an ecological community, affecting many other organisms in an ecosystem and helping to determine the types and numbers of various other species in the community. Without keystone species, the ecosystem would be dramatically different or cease to exist altogether.
Kelp forestKelp forests are underwater areas with a high density of kelp, which covers a large part of the world's coastlines. Smaller areas of anchored kelp are called kelp beds. They are recognized as one of the most productive and dynamic ecosystems on Earth. Although algal kelp forest combined with coral reefs only cover 0.1% of Earth's total surface, they account for 0.9% of global primary productivity. Kelp forests occur worldwide throughout temperate and polar coastal oceans.
Haida peopleHaida (pron'haɪdə, X̱aayda, X̱aadas, X̱aad, X̱aat) are an indigenous group who have traditionally occupied Haida Gwaii, an archipelago just off the coast of British Columbia, Canada, for at least 12,500 years. The Haida are known for their craftsmanship, trading skills, and seamanship. They are known to have frequently carried out raids and to have practised slavery. The Haida have been compared to the Vikings of Scandinavia by Diamond Jenness, an early anthropologist at the Canadian Museum of Civilization.
MustelidaeThe Mustelidae (mʌˈstɛlᵻdiː; from Latin mustela, weasel) are a diverse family of carnivorous mammals, including weasels, badgers, otters, martens, and wolverines. Otherwise known as mustelids (ˈmʌstᵻlɪdz), they form the largest family in the suborder Caniformia of the order Carnivora with about 66 to 70 species in nine subfamilies. Mustelids vary greatly in size and behaviour. The smaller variants of the least weasel can be under in length, while the giant otter of Amazonian South America can measure up to and sea otters can exceed in weight.
AleutThe Aleuts (ˌæ.liːˈuːt ; Aleuty) are the indigenous people of the Aleutian Islands, which are located between the North Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea. Both the Aleut people and the islands are politically divided between the US state of Alaska and the Russian administrative division of Kamchatka Krai. This group is also known as the Unangax̂ (Oo-NUNG-ukh) in Unangam Tunuu, the Aleut language. In the Aleut language they are known by the endonyms Unangan (eastern dialect) and Unangas (western dialect), both of which mean "people".
OverexploitationOverexploitation, also called overharvesting, refers to harvesting a renewable resource to the point of diminishing returns. Continued overexploitation can lead to the destruction of the resource, as it will be unable to replenish. The term applies to natural resources such as water aquifers, grazing pastures and forests, wild medicinal plants, fish stocks and other wildlife. In ecology, overexploitation describes one of the five main activities threatening global biodiversity.
WeaselWeasels ˈwiːzəlz are mammals of the genus Mustela of the family Mustelidae. The genus Mustela includes the least weasels, polecats, stoats, ferrets, and European mink. Members of this genus are small, active predators, with long and slender bodies and short legs. The family Mustelidae, or mustelids (which also includes badgers, otters, and wolverines), is often referred to as the "weasel family". In the UK, the term "weasel" usually refers to the smallest species, the least weasel (M. nivalis), the smallest carnivoran species.
Fur tradeThe fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued. Historically the trade stimulated the exploration and colonization of Siberia, northern North America, and the South Shetland and South Sandwich Islands. Today the importance of the fur trade has diminished; it is based on pelts produced at fur farms and regulated fur-bearer trapping, but has become controversial.
Puget SoundPuget Sound (ˈpjuːdʒɪt ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and two minor connections to the open Pacific Ocean via the Strait of Juan de Fuca—Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and Deception Pass and Swinomish Channel being the minor.
Steller sea lionThe Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus, also known as Steller's sea lion or the northern sea lion) is a large, near-threatened species of sea lion, predominantly found in the coastal marine habitats of the northeast Pacific Ocean and the Pacific Northwest regions of North America, from north-central California to Oregon, Washington and British Columbia to Alaska. Their range continues across the Northern Pacific and the Aleutian Islands, all the way to Kamchatka, Magadan Oblast, and the Sea of Okhotsk, south to Honshu’s northern coastline.
