Improving pinniped diet analyses through identification of multiple skeletal structures in fecal samples
Marine mammal diet is typically characterized by identifying fish otoliths and cephalopod beaks retrieved from stomachs and fecal material (scats). The use and applicability of these techniques has been the matter of some debate given inherent biases associated with the method. Recent attempts to id...
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ftoceandocs:oai:aquadocs.org:1834/31075 2023-05-15T16:33:05+02:00 Improving pinniped diet analyses through identification of multiple skeletal structures in fecal samples Browne, Patience Laake, Jeffrey L. DeLong, Robert L. 2002 application/pdf 423-433 http://hdl.handle.net/1834/31075 en eng http://fishbull.noaa.gov/1003/04browne.pdf 0090-0656 http://hdl.handle.net/1834/31075 http://aquaticcommons.org/id/eprint/15222 403 2014-06-01 19:00:08 15222 United States National Marine Fisheries Service Biology Fisheries Management article TRUE 2002 ftoceandocs 2023-04-06T17:04:19Z Marine mammal diet is typically characterized by identifying fish otoliths and cephalopod beaks retrieved from stomachs and fecal material (scats). The use and applicability of these techniques has been the matter of some debate given inherent biases associated with the method. Recent attempts to identify prey using skeletal remains in addition to beaks and otoliths are an improvement; however, difficulties incorporating these data into quantitative analyses have limited results for descriptive analyses such as frequency of occurrence. We attempted to characterize harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) diet in an area where seals co-occur with several salmon species, some endangered and all managed by state or federal agencies, or both. Although diet was extremely variable within sampling date, season, year, and between years, the frequency and number of individual prey were at least two times greater for most taxa when prey structures in addition to otoliths were identified. Estimating prey mass in addition to frequency and number resulted in an extremely different relative importance of prey in harbor seal diet. These data analyses are a necessary step in generating estimates of the size, total number, and annual biomass of a prey species eaten by pinnipeds for inclusion in fisheries management plans. Article in Journal/Newspaper harbor seal Phoca vitulina IODE-UNESCO: OceanDocs - E-Repository of Ocean Publications |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
IODE-UNESCO: OceanDocs - E-Repository of Ocean Publications |
op_collection_id |
ftoceandocs |
language |
English |
topic |
Biology Fisheries Management |
spellingShingle |
Biology Fisheries Management Browne, Patience Laake, Jeffrey L. DeLong, Robert L. Improving pinniped diet analyses through identification of multiple skeletal structures in fecal samples |
topic_facet |
Biology Fisheries Management |
description |
Marine mammal diet is typically characterized by identifying fish otoliths and cephalopod beaks retrieved from stomachs and fecal material (scats). The use and applicability of these techniques has been the matter of some debate given inherent biases associated with the method. Recent attempts to identify prey using skeletal remains in addition to beaks and otoliths are an improvement; however, difficulties incorporating these data into quantitative analyses have limited results for descriptive analyses such as frequency of occurrence. We attempted to characterize harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) diet in an area where seals co-occur with several salmon species, some endangered and all managed by state or federal agencies, or both. Although diet was extremely variable within sampling date, season, year, and between years, the frequency and number of individual prey were at least two times greater for most taxa when prey structures in addition to otoliths were identified. Estimating prey mass in addition to frequency and number resulted in an extremely different relative importance of prey in harbor seal diet. These data analyses are a necessary step in generating estimates of the size, total number, and annual biomass of a prey species eaten by pinnipeds for inclusion in fisheries management plans. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Browne, Patience Laake, Jeffrey L. DeLong, Robert L. |
author_facet |
Browne, Patience Laake, Jeffrey L. DeLong, Robert L. |
author_sort |
Browne, Patience |
title |
Improving pinniped diet analyses through identification of multiple skeletal structures in fecal samples |
title_short |
Improving pinniped diet analyses through identification of multiple skeletal structures in fecal samples |
title_full |
Improving pinniped diet analyses through identification of multiple skeletal structures in fecal samples |
title_fullStr |
Improving pinniped diet analyses through identification of multiple skeletal structures in fecal samples |
title_full_unstemmed |
Improving pinniped diet analyses through identification of multiple skeletal structures in fecal samples |
title_sort |
improving pinniped diet analyses through identification of multiple skeletal structures in fecal samples |
publishDate |
2002 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/1834/31075 |
genre |
harbor seal Phoca vitulina |
genre_facet |
harbor seal Phoca vitulina |
op_source |
http://aquaticcommons.org/id/eprint/15222 403 2014-06-01 19:00:08 15222 United States National Marine Fisheries Service |
op_relation |
http://fishbull.noaa.gov/1003/04browne.pdf 0090-0656 http://hdl.handle.net/1834/31075 |
_version_ |
1766022805908881408 |