Data from: Optimal foraging or surplus killing: selective consumption and discarding of salmon by brown bears ...

• Main Authors: Lincoln, Alexandra E., Quinn, Thomas P.
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2018
• Subjects: Oncorhynchus nerka; Ursus arctos; surplus killing; prey selection; brown bear; optimal foraging; Pacific; Sockeye; Alaska
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.3fg5r56; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.3fg5r56

Selective consumption of prey by predators, observed in many animals, is often attributed to optimal foraging. Consistent with this idea, brown bears (Ursus arctos) often exhibit partial consumption, feeding exclusively on lipid-rich tissues of Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.), and discarding remains. However, bears also kill and abandon salmon without consuming any tissue. These discarded fish may be consistent with optimal foraging choices if they are of poor quality and if bears have easy access to better prey, or may reveal non-adaptive surplus killing behavior if fish are killed and discarded at random or solely based on prey abundance. Using 21 consecutive years of data from sockeye salmon (O. nerka) carcass surveys in Alaska, we found that foraging to maximize energy intake best explained prey discarding behavior. Specifically, discarding was more common under high prey abundance, late in the salmon run, and with low quality prey. Patterns of tissue consumption were consistent with these findings; ... : Lincoln Quinn bear consumption data 9-19-18This file consists of data associated with the manuscript “Optimal foraging or surplus killing: selective consumption and discarding of salmon by brown bears.” Each row represents a bear-killed sockeye salmon, and contains an individual ID, the year and date of the observation, the fish sex and length (measured mid-eye to hypural plate), a binary code for bear consumption of body/hump/belly/brain/skin tissue, habitat type (1=stream, 2=pond), and a binary code for consumption or discard (1=consumption, 0=discard). Additionally, the Julian date of fish death, the daily local fish availability, annual local fish availability, neighborhood fish availability, and the in-stream lifespan are provided. ...