critically endangered animals have died from a gruesome wasting disease linked to warming seas. Populations have plummeted by more than 90%.
As key predators, sunflower sea stars are vital in maintaining a diverse ocean ecosystem, said Jason Hodin, a marine biologist who is leading the research at Friday Harbor Laboratories on San Juan Island, the marine field station for the University of Washington. “These top predators actually help structure the ecosystem,” he said. “And when you remove them it often turns [habitats] into much more simplified and less diverse ecosystems. ”This has been starkly felt in California, said Hodin, where the absence of the starfish has coincided with the disappearance of kelp forests.
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