Myrmecophagy by Yellowstone grizzly bears
I used data collected during a study of radio-marked grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis) in the Yellowstone region from 1977 to 1992 to investigate myrmecophagy by this population. Although generally not an important source of energy for the bears (averaging <5% of fecal volume at peak consum...
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2001
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crcansciencepubl:10.1139/z01-034 2024-06-23T07:57:22+00:00 Myrmecophagy by Yellowstone grizzly bears Mattson, David J 2001 http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z01-034 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z01-034 en eng Canadian Science Publishing http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining Canadian Journal of Zoology volume 79, issue 5, page 779-793 ISSN 0008-4301 1480-3283 journal-article 2001 crcansciencepubl https://doi.org/10.1139/z01-034 2024-06-06T04:11:18Z I used data collected during a study of radio-marked grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis) in the Yellowstone region from 1977 to 1992 to investigate myrmecophagy by this population. Although generally not an important source of energy for the bears (averaging <5% of fecal volume at peak consumption), ants may have been an important source of protein during midsummer and were heavily consumed during some years. Myrmecophagy was most common annually when known high-quality foods were scarce, as well as during the warmest months of the study, when regional average temperatures exceeded 1215°C. Bears tended to select large ants (>8 mm long) nested in logs over small ants ([Formula: see text]6 mm long) nested under stones. Optimal conditions for consumption of ants occurred on the warmest sites with ample substrate suitable for ant nests. For ants in mounds, this occurred at low elevations at non-forested sites. For ants in logs, this occurred at low elevations or on southerly aspects where there was abundant, large-diameter, well-decomposed woody debris under an open forest canopy. Grizzly bears selected moderately decomposed logs 45 dm in diameter at midpoint. Ants will likely become a more important food for Yellowstone's grizzly bears as currently important foods decline, owing to disease and warming of the regional climate. Article in Journal/Newspaper Ursus arctos Canadian Science Publishing Canadian Journal of Zoology 79 5 779 793 |
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Open Polar |
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Canadian Science Publishing |
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crcansciencepubl |
language |
English |
description |
I used data collected during a study of radio-marked grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis) in the Yellowstone region from 1977 to 1992 to investigate myrmecophagy by this population. Although generally not an important source of energy for the bears (averaging <5% of fecal volume at peak consumption), ants may have been an important source of protein during midsummer and were heavily consumed during some years. Myrmecophagy was most common annually when known high-quality foods were scarce, as well as during the warmest months of the study, when regional average temperatures exceeded 1215°C. Bears tended to select large ants (>8 mm long) nested in logs over small ants ([Formula: see text]6 mm long) nested under stones. Optimal conditions for consumption of ants occurred on the warmest sites with ample substrate suitable for ant nests. For ants in mounds, this occurred at low elevations at non-forested sites. For ants in logs, this occurred at low elevations or on southerly aspects where there was abundant, large-diameter, well-decomposed woody debris under an open forest canopy. Grizzly bears selected moderately decomposed logs 45 dm in diameter at midpoint. Ants will likely become a more important food for Yellowstone's grizzly bears as currently important foods decline, owing to disease and warming of the regional climate. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Mattson, David J |
spellingShingle |
Mattson, David J Myrmecophagy by Yellowstone grizzly bears |
author_facet |
Mattson, David J |
author_sort |
Mattson, David J |
title |
Myrmecophagy by Yellowstone grizzly bears |
title_short |
Myrmecophagy by Yellowstone grizzly bears |
title_full |
Myrmecophagy by Yellowstone grizzly bears |
title_fullStr |
Myrmecophagy by Yellowstone grizzly bears |
title_full_unstemmed |
Myrmecophagy by Yellowstone grizzly bears |
title_sort |
myrmecophagy by yellowstone grizzly bears |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
2001 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z01-034 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z01-034 |
genre |
Ursus arctos |
genre_facet |
Ursus arctos |
op_source |
Canadian Journal of Zoology volume 79, issue 5, page 779-793 ISSN 0008-4301 1480-3283 |
op_rights |
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/z01-034 |
container_title |
Canadian Journal of Zoology |
container_volume |
79 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
779 |
op_container_end_page |
793 |
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1802650964444839936 |