Alaskan brown bears ( Ursus arctos) aggregate and display fidelity to foraging neighborhoods while preying on Pacific salmon along small streams
Abstract The interaction between brown bears ( Ursus arctos ) and Pacific salmon ( Oncorhynchus spp.) is important to the population dynamics of both species and a celebrated example of consumer‐mediated nutrient transport. Yet, much of the site‐specific information we have about the bears in this r...
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crwiley:10.1002/ece3.4431 2024-10-13T14:11:15+00:00 Alaskan brown bears ( Ursus arctos) aggregate and display fidelity to foraging neighborhoods while preying on Pacific salmon along small streams Wirsing, Aaron J. Quinn, Thomas P. Cunningham, Curry J. Adams, Jennifer R. Craig, Apryle D. Waits, Lisette P. University of Washington University of Idaho 2018 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4431 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fece3.4431 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ece3.4431 en eng Wiley http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Ecology and Evolution volume 8, issue 17, page 9048-9061 ISSN 2045-7758 2045-7758 journal-article 2018 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4431 2024-09-17T04:52:03Z Abstract The interaction between brown bears ( Ursus arctos ) and Pacific salmon ( Oncorhynchus spp.) is important to the population dynamics of both species and a celebrated example of consumer‐mediated nutrient transport. Yet, much of the site‐specific information we have about the bears in this relationship comes from observations at a few highly visible but unrepresentative locations and a small number of radio‐telemetry studies. Consequently, our understanding of brown bear abundance and behavior at more cryptic locations where they commonly feed on salmon, including small spawning streams, remains limited. We employed a noninvasive genetic approach (barbed wire hair snares) over four summers (2012–2015) to document patterns of brown bear abundance and movement among six spawning streams for sockeye salmon, O. nerka , in southwestern Alaska. The streams were grouped into two trios on opposite sides of Lake Aleknagik. Thus, we predicted that most bears would forage within only one trio during the spawning season because of the energetic costs associated with swimming between them or traveling around the lake and show fidelity to particular trios across years because of the benefits of familiarity with local salmon dynamics and stream characteristics. Huggins closed‐capture models based on encounter histories from genotyped hair samples revealed that as many as 41 individuals visited single streams during the annual 6‐week sampling season. Bears also moved freely among trios of streams but rarely moved between these putative foraging neighborhoods, either during or between years. By implication, even small salmon spawning streams can serve as important resources for brown bears, and consistent use of stream neighborhoods by certain bears may play an important role in spatially structuring coastal bear populations. Our findings also underscore the efficacy of noninvasive hair snagging and genetic analysis for examining bear abundance and movements at relatively fine spatial and temporal scales. Article in Journal/Newspaper Ursus arctos Alaska Wiley Online Library Pacific Sockeye ENVELOPE(-130.143,-130.143,54.160,54.160) Huggins ENVELOPE(162.483,162.483,-78.283,-78.283) Ecology and Evolution 8 17 9048 9061 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Wiley Online Library |
op_collection_id |
crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract The interaction between brown bears ( Ursus arctos ) and Pacific salmon ( Oncorhynchus spp.) is important to the population dynamics of both species and a celebrated example of consumer‐mediated nutrient transport. Yet, much of the site‐specific information we have about the bears in this relationship comes from observations at a few highly visible but unrepresentative locations and a small number of radio‐telemetry studies. Consequently, our understanding of brown bear abundance and behavior at more cryptic locations where they commonly feed on salmon, including small spawning streams, remains limited. We employed a noninvasive genetic approach (barbed wire hair snares) over four summers (2012–2015) to document patterns of brown bear abundance and movement among six spawning streams for sockeye salmon, O. nerka , in southwestern Alaska. The streams were grouped into two trios on opposite sides of Lake Aleknagik. Thus, we predicted that most bears would forage within only one trio during the spawning season because of the energetic costs associated with swimming between them or traveling around the lake and show fidelity to particular trios across years because of the benefits of familiarity with local salmon dynamics and stream characteristics. Huggins closed‐capture models based on encounter histories from genotyped hair samples revealed that as many as 41 individuals visited single streams during the annual 6‐week sampling season. Bears also moved freely among trios of streams but rarely moved between these putative foraging neighborhoods, either during or between years. By implication, even small salmon spawning streams can serve as important resources for brown bears, and consistent use of stream neighborhoods by certain bears may play an important role in spatially structuring coastal bear populations. Our findings also underscore the efficacy of noninvasive hair snagging and genetic analysis for examining bear abundance and movements at relatively fine spatial and temporal scales. |
author2 |
University of Washington University of Idaho |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Wirsing, Aaron J. Quinn, Thomas P. Cunningham, Curry J. Adams, Jennifer R. Craig, Apryle D. Waits, Lisette P. |
spellingShingle |
Wirsing, Aaron J. Quinn, Thomas P. Cunningham, Curry J. Adams, Jennifer R. Craig, Apryle D. Waits, Lisette P. Alaskan brown bears ( Ursus arctos) aggregate and display fidelity to foraging neighborhoods while preying on Pacific salmon along small streams |
author_facet |
Wirsing, Aaron J. Quinn, Thomas P. Cunningham, Curry J. Adams, Jennifer R. Craig, Apryle D. Waits, Lisette P. |
author_sort |
Wirsing, Aaron J. |
title |
Alaskan brown bears ( Ursus arctos) aggregate and display fidelity to foraging neighborhoods while preying on Pacific salmon along small streams |
title_short |
Alaskan brown bears ( Ursus arctos) aggregate and display fidelity to foraging neighborhoods while preying on Pacific salmon along small streams |
title_full |
Alaskan brown bears ( Ursus arctos) aggregate and display fidelity to foraging neighborhoods while preying on Pacific salmon along small streams |
title_fullStr |
Alaskan brown bears ( Ursus arctos) aggregate and display fidelity to foraging neighborhoods while preying on Pacific salmon along small streams |
title_full_unstemmed |
Alaskan brown bears ( Ursus arctos) aggregate and display fidelity to foraging neighborhoods while preying on Pacific salmon along small streams |
title_sort |
alaskan brown bears ( ursus arctos) aggregate and display fidelity to foraging neighborhoods while preying on pacific salmon along small streams |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4431 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fece3.4431 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ece3.4431 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-130.143,-130.143,54.160,54.160) ENVELOPE(162.483,162.483,-78.283,-78.283) |
geographic |
Pacific Sockeye Huggins |
geographic_facet |
Pacific Sockeye Huggins |
genre |
Ursus arctos Alaska |
genre_facet |
Ursus arctos Alaska |
op_source |
Ecology and Evolution volume 8, issue 17, page 9048-9061 ISSN 2045-7758 2045-7758 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4431 |
container_title |
Ecology and Evolution |
container_volume |
8 |
container_issue |
17 |
container_start_page |
9048 |
op_container_end_page |
9061 |
_version_ |
1812818905426558976 |