Diet of St. Lawrence Estuary Beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) in a changing ecosystem
Ecosystems and community structure fluctuate over time as a result of natural and anthropogenic factors that may affect prey availability and population dynamics. Most of what we know about St. Lawrence Estuary (SLE) Beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) diet comes from stomach contents collected 80 years...
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ftjcfn:oai:canadianfieldnaturalist.ca:article/2421 2023-05-15T15:41:28+02:00 Diet of St. Lawrence Estuary Beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) in a changing ecosystem Lesage, Véronique Lair, Stéphane Turgeon, Samuel Béland, Pierre 2020-07-08 application/pdf application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet https://www.canadianfieldnaturalist.ca/index.php/cfn/article/view/2421 https://doi.org/10.22621/cfn.v134i1.2421 eng eng The Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club https://www.canadianfieldnaturalist.ca/index.php/cfn/article/view/2421/2425 https://www.canadianfieldnaturalist.ca/index.php/cfn/article/view/2421/2427 https://www.canadianfieldnaturalist.ca/index.php/cfn/article/view/2421 doi:10.22621/cfn.v134i1.2421 Copyright (c) 2020 The Canadian Field-Naturalist The Canadian Field-Naturalist; Vol. 134 No. 1 (2020); 21-35 0008-3550 Delphinapterus leucas foraging ecology diet Beluga ecosystem change info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2020 ftjcfn https://doi.org/10.22621/cfn.v134i1.2421 2021-09-02T18:54:55Z Ecosystems and community structure fluctuate over time as a result of natural and anthropogenic factors that may affect prey availability and population dynamics. Most of what we know about St. Lawrence Estuary (SLE) Beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) diet comes from stomach contents collected 80 years ago mainly from a hunting site that Beluga no longer use. How reflective these data are of Beluga diet at other sites and at the current time is unknown. In the context of the recent population decline, general information of prey species alone may help identify useful conservation actions for potentially important prey or habitats. Here, we examined the diet of SLE Beluga using digestive tracts collected from carcasses recovered over the past 30 years, in the context of historical diet data and recent changes in the St. Lawrence ecosystem. We showed they have a varied diet composed of fish and invertebrates generally <30 cm in length, and that adult males and females differ in their summer diet in a way that is consistent with the sex segregation observed in this population. Our results also indicate that polychaete worms, squid, and cod are still among the most prevalent prey, and that species such as redfish (Sebastes spp.) might be important prey items. This study shows that Beluga diet has changed since the 1930s, and that prey from digestive tracts identified to species are valuable for making comparisons to the past, and for improving applications of molecular analyses, such as stable isotopes and fatty acids. Article in Journal/Newspaper Beluga Beluga* Delphinapterus leucas The Canadian Field-Naturalist (E-Journal) The Canadian Field-Naturalist 134 1 21 35 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
The Canadian Field-Naturalist (E-Journal) |
op_collection_id |
ftjcfn |
language |
English |
topic |
Delphinapterus leucas foraging ecology diet Beluga ecosystem change |
spellingShingle |
Delphinapterus leucas foraging ecology diet Beluga ecosystem change Lesage, Véronique Lair, Stéphane Turgeon, Samuel Béland, Pierre Diet of St. Lawrence Estuary Beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) in a changing ecosystem |
topic_facet |
Delphinapterus leucas foraging ecology diet Beluga ecosystem change |
description |
Ecosystems and community structure fluctuate over time as a result of natural and anthropogenic factors that may affect prey availability and population dynamics. Most of what we know about St. Lawrence Estuary (SLE) Beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) diet comes from stomach contents collected 80 years ago mainly from a hunting site that Beluga no longer use. How reflective these data are of Beluga diet at other sites and at the current time is unknown. In the context of the recent population decline, general information of prey species alone may help identify useful conservation actions for potentially important prey or habitats. Here, we examined the diet of SLE Beluga using digestive tracts collected from carcasses recovered over the past 30 years, in the context of historical diet data and recent changes in the St. Lawrence ecosystem. We showed they have a varied diet composed of fish and invertebrates generally <30 cm in length, and that adult males and females differ in their summer diet in a way that is consistent with the sex segregation observed in this population. Our results also indicate that polychaete worms, squid, and cod are still among the most prevalent prey, and that species such as redfish (Sebastes spp.) might be important prey items. This study shows that Beluga diet has changed since the 1930s, and that prey from digestive tracts identified to species are valuable for making comparisons to the past, and for improving applications of molecular analyses, such as stable isotopes and fatty acids. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Lesage, Véronique Lair, Stéphane Turgeon, Samuel Béland, Pierre |
author_facet |
Lesage, Véronique Lair, Stéphane Turgeon, Samuel Béland, Pierre |
author_sort |
Lesage, Véronique |
title |
Diet of St. Lawrence Estuary Beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) in a changing ecosystem |
title_short |
Diet of St. Lawrence Estuary Beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) in a changing ecosystem |
title_full |
Diet of St. Lawrence Estuary Beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) in a changing ecosystem |
title_fullStr |
Diet of St. Lawrence Estuary Beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) in a changing ecosystem |
title_full_unstemmed |
Diet of St. Lawrence Estuary Beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) in a changing ecosystem |
title_sort |
diet of st. lawrence estuary beluga (delphinapterus leucas) in a changing ecosystem |
publisher |
The Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://www.canadianfieldnaturalist.ca/index.php/cfn/article/view/2421 https://doi.org/10.22621/cfn.v134i1.2421 |
genre |
Beluga Beluga* Delphinapterus leucas |
genre_facet |
Beluga Beluga* Delphinapterus leucas |
op_source |
The Canadian Field-Naturalist; Vol. 134 No. 1 (2020); 21-35 0008-3550 |
op_relation |
https://www.canadianfieldnaturalist.ca/index.php/cfn/article/view/2421/2425 https://www.canadianfieldnaturalist.ca/index.php/cfn/article/view/2421/2427 https://www.canadianfieldnaturalist.ca/index.php/cfn/article/view/2421 doi:10.22621/cfn.v134i1.2421 |
op_rights |
Copyright (c) 2020 The Canadian Field-Naturalist |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.22621/cfn.v134i1.2421 |
container_title |
The Canadian Field-Naturalist |
container_volume |
134 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
21 |
op_container_end_page |
35 |
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1766374366263640064 |