LABORATORY DIGESTION OF PREY AND INTERPRETATION OF WALRUS STOMACH CONTENTS
A bstract A new approach for evaluating the potential biases of walrus ( Odobenus rosmarus ) diet data derived from stomach contents was examined based on the rates at which different prey types were digested. In this study controlled digestion experiments on polychaetes, echiurid and sipunculid wor...
Published in: | Marine Mammal Science |
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Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-7692.2001.tb01273.x https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1748-7692.2001.tb01273.x https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1748-7692.2001.tb01273.x |
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crwiley:10.1111/j.1748-7692.2001.tb01273.x 2024-09-09T20:01:55+00:00 LABORATORY DIGESTION OF PREY AND INTERPRETATION OF WALRUS STOMACH CONTENTS Sheffield, Gay Fay, Francis H. Feder, Howard Kelly, Brendan P. 2001 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-7692.2001.tb01273.x https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1748-7692.2001.tb01273.x https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1748-7692.2001.tb01273.x en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Marine Mammal Science volume 17, issue 2, page 310-330 ISSN 0824-0469 1748-7692 journal-article 2001 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-7692.2001.tb01273.x 2024-07-30T04:22:49Z A bstract A new approach for evaluating the potential biases of walrus ( Odobenus rosmarus ) diet data derived from stomach contents was examined based on the rates at which different prey types were digested. In this study controlled digestion experiments on polychaetes, echiurid and sipunculid worms, clams, snails, and crabs demonstrated that these prey items did not remain equally identifiable during digestion. Polychaetes, echiurids, and sipunculids were the least persistent prey. All worms became unidentifiable during the six‐hour digestion trials. Over 50% of the clams maintained their diagnostic tissues ( i. e. , foot and/or siphon). Clam viscera did not survive hour 2. Snails and crustaceans were the most persistent prey. Without a consideration of the state of digestion, a stomach sample may not accurately reflect the species composition and size of prey consumed. Volume is not a reliable measure of a prey's relative importance, as the diagnostic fragments of invertebrate prey in a stomach vary greatly in physical composition. Walruses probably consume all of the soft tissues of clams, not solely the foot and siphon. Article in Journal/Newspaper Odobenus rosmarus walrus* Wiley Online Library Marine Mammal Science 17 2 310 330 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Wiley Online Library |
op_collection_id |
crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
A bstract A new approach for evaluating the potential biases of walrus ( Odobenus rosmarus ) diet data derived from stomach contents was examined based on the rates at which different prey types were digested. In this study controlled digestion experiments on polychaetes, echiurid and sipunculid worms, clams, snails, and crabs demonstrated that these prey items did not remain equally identifiable during digestion. Polychaetes, echiurids, and sipunculids were the least persistent prey. All worms became unidentifiable during the six‐hour digestion trials. Over 50% of the clams maintained their diagnostic tissues ( i. e. , foot and/or siphon). Clam viscera did not survive hour 2. Snails and crustaceans were the most persistent prey. Without a consideration of the state of digestion, a stomach sample may not accurately reflect the species composition and size of prey consumed. Volume is not a reliable measure of a prey's relative importance, as the diagnostic fragments of invertebrate prey in a stomach vary greatly in physical composition. Walruses probably consume all of the soft tissues of clams, not solely the foot and siphon. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Sheffield, Gay Fay, Francis H. Feder, Howard Kelly, Brendan P. |
spellingShingle |
Sheffield, Gay Fay, Francis H. Feder, Howard Kelly, Brendan P. LABORATORY DIGESTION OF PREY AND INTERPRETATION OF WALRUS STOMACH CONTENTS |
author_facet |
Sheffield, Gay Fay, Francis H. Feder, Howard Kelly, Brendan P. |
author_sort |
Sheffield, Gay |
title |
LABORATORY DIGESTION OF PREY AND INTERPRETATION OF WALRUS STOMACH CONTENTS |
title_short |
LABORATORY DIGESTION OF PREY AND INTERPRETATION OF WALRUS STOMACH CONTENTS |
title_full |
LABORATORY DIGESTION OF PREY AND INTERPRETATION OF WALRUS STOMACH CONTENTS |
title_fullStr |
LABORATORY DIGESTION OF PREY AND INTERPRETATION OF WALRUS STOMACH CONTENTS |
title_full_unstemmed |
LABORATORY DIGESTION OF PREY AND INTERPRETATION OF WALRUS STOMACH CONTENTS |
title_sort |
laboratory digestion of prey and interpretation of walrus stomach contents |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2001 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-7692.2001.tb01273.x https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1748-7692.2001.tb01273.x https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1748-7692.2001.tb01273.x |
genre |
Odobenus rosmarus walrus* |
genre_facet |
Odobenus rosmarus walrus* |
op_source |
Marine Mammal Science volume 17, issue 2, page 310-330 ISSN 0824-0469 1748-7692 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-7692.2001.tb01273.x |
container_title |
Marine Mammal Science |
container_volume |
17 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
310 |
op_container_end_page |
330 |
_version_ |
1809933812320174080 |