Fatty acid‐based diet estimates suggest ringed seal remain the main prey of southern Beaufort Sea polar bears despite recent use of onshore food resources
Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) from the southern Beaufort Sea (SB) subpopulation have traditionally fed predominantly upon ice‐seals; however, as the proportion of the subpopulation using onshore habitat has recently increased, foraging on land‐based resources, including remains of subsistence‐harves...
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Online Access: | http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7042688/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32128141 https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6043 |
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:7042688 2023-05-15T15:36:00+02:00 Fatty acid‐based diet estimates suggest ringed seal remain the main prey of southern Beaufort Sea polar bears despite recent use of onshore food resources Bourque, Jennifer Atwood, Todd C. Divoky, George J. Stewart, Connie McKinney, Melissa A. 2020-01-29 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7042688/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32128141 https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6043 en eng John Wiley and Sons Inc. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7042688/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32128141 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6043 © 2020 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. CC-BY Original Research Text 2020 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6043 2020-03-08T01:41:05Z Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) from the southern Beaufort Sea (SB) subpopulation have traditionally fed predominantly upon ice‐seals; however, as the proportion of the subpopulation using onshore habitat has recently increased, foraging on land‐based resources, including remains of subsistence‐harvested bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) and colonial nesting seabirds has been observed. Adipose tissue samples were collected from this subpopulation during the springs of 2013–2016 and analyzed for fatty acid signatures. Diet estimates were generated for the proportional consumption of ringed seal (Pusa hispida), bearded seal (Erignathus barbatus), and beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas), relative to onshore foods, including bowhead whale remains and seabird, as represented by black guillemot (Cepphus grylle mandtii) nestlings and eggs. Quantitative fatty acid signature analysis (QFASA) estimated that the ice‐obligate prey, ringed seal, remained the predominant prey species of SB polar bears (46.4 ± 1.8%), with much lower consumption of bearded seal (19.6 ± 2.0%), seabird (17.0 ± 1.2%), bowhead whale (15.0 ± 1.4%), and hardly any beluga whale (2.0 ± 0.5%). Adult and subadult females appeared to depend more on the traditional ringed seal prey than adult and subadult males. Diet estimates of SB polar bears showed significant interannual variability for all prey (F (12, 456) = 3.17, p < .001). Longer‐term estimates suggested that both types of onshore prey, bowhead whale remains and seabird, have represented a moderate proportion of the food resources used by SB polar bears since at least the start of the 21st Century. Text Balaena mysticetus bearded seal Beaufort Sea Beluga Beluga whale Beluga* Black guillemot bowhead whale Cepphus grylle Delphinapterus leucas Erignathus barbatus Pusa hispida ringed seal Ursus maritimus PubMed Central (PMC) Ecology and Evolution 10 4 2093 2103 |
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Original Research |
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Original Research Bourque, Jennifer Atwood, Todd C. Divoky, George J. Stewart, Connie McKinney, Melissa A. Fatty acid‐based diet estimates suggest ringed seal remain the main prey of southern Beaufort Sea polar bears despite recent use of onshore food resources |
topic_facet |
Original Research |
description |
Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) from the southern Beaufort Sea (SB) subpopulation have traditionally fed predominantly upon ice‐seals; however, as the proportion of the subpopulation using onshore habitat has recently increased, foraging on land‐based resources, including remains of subsistence‐harvested bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) and colonial nesting seabirds has been observed. Adipose tissue samples were collected from this subpopulation during the springs of 2013–2016 and analyzed for fatty acid signatures. Diet estimates were generated for the proportional consumption of ringed seal (Pusa hispida), bearded seal (Erignathus barbatus), and beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas), relative to onshore foods, including bowhead whale remains and seabird, as represented by black guillemot (Cepphus grylle mandtii) nestlings and eggs. Quantitative fatty acid signature analysis (QFASA) estimated that the ice‐obligate prey, ringed seal, remained the predominant prey species of SB polar bears (46.4 ± 1.8%), with much lower consumption of bearded seal (19.6 ± 2.0%), seabird (17.0 ± 1.2%), bowhead whale (15.0 ± 1.4%), and hardly any beluga whale (2.0 ± 0.5%). Adult and subadult females appeared to depend more on the traditional ringed seal prey than adult and subadult males. Diet estimates of SB polar bears showed significant interannual variability for all prey (F (12, 456) = 3.17, p < .001). Longer‐term estimates suggested that both types of onshore prey, bowhead whale remains and seabird, have represented a moderate proportion of the food resources used by SB polar bears since at least the start of the 21st Century. |
format |
Text |
author |
Bourque, Jennifer Atwood, Todd C. Divoky, George J. Stewart, Connie McKinney, Melissa A. |
author_facet |
Bourque, Jennifer Atwood, Todd C. Divoky, George J. Stewart, Connie McKinney, Melissa A. |
author_sort |
Bourque, Jennifer |
title |
Fatty acid‐based diet estimates suggest ringed seal remain the main prey of southern Beaufort Sea polar bears despite recent use of onshore food resources |
title_short |
Fatty acid‐based diet estimates suggest ringed seal remain the main prey of southern Beaufort Sea polar bears despite recent use of onshore food resources |
title_full |
Fatty acid‐based diet estimates suggest ringed seal remain the main prey of southern Beaufort Sea polar bears despite recent use of onshore food resources |
title_fullStr |
Fatty acid‐based diet estimates suggest ringed seal remain the main prey of southern Beaufort Sea polar bears despite recent use of onshore food resources |
title_full_unstemmed |
Fatty acid‐based diet estimates suggest ringed seal remain the main prey of southern Beaufort Sea polar bears despite recent use of onshore food resources |
title_sort |
fatty acid‐based diet estimates suggest ringed seal remain the main prey of southern beaufort sea polar bears despite recent use of onshore food resources |
publisher |
John Wiley and Sons Inc. |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7042688/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32128141 https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6043 |
genre |
Balaena mysticetus bearded seal Beaufort Sea Beluga Beluga whale Beluga* Black guillemot bowhead whale Cepphus grylle Delphinapterus leucas Erignathus barbatus Pusa hispida ringed seal Ursus maritimus |
genre_facet |
Balaena mysticetus bearded seal Beaufort Sea Beluga Beluga whale Beluga* Black guillemot bowhead whale Cepphus grylle Delphinapterus leucas Erignathus barbatus Pusa hispida ringed seal Ursus maritimus |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7042688/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32128141 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6043 |
op_rights |
© 2020 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6043 |
container_title |
Ecology and Evolution |
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10 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
2093 |
op_container_end_page |
2103 |
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1766366344046968832 |