Trophic Relationships Among Caribou Calf Predators in Newfoundland

• Main Author: Zieminski, Chris
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst 2016
• Subjects: caribou; black bear; coyote; dog; diet; predator; Newfoundland; Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Rangifer tarandus
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/masters_theses_2/388; https://doi.org/10.7275/8438829; https://scholarworks.umass.edu/context/masters_theses_2/article/1392/viewcontent/Zieminski_6_21_16.pdf

Using specially trained scat detection dogs we located fecal samples from black bear (Ursus americanus) and coyote (Canis latrans) throughout three study areas in Newfoundland, Canada, to describe these predators diet. Our sampling efforts were designed around seasons which were important to woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) calving and resource use. We identified hairs microscopically to prey species and grouped other remains to facilitate our analysis. Bear exhibited an omnivorous diet throughout the study areas, ecological seasons and inside and outside the caribou calving grounds while coyote were limited to caribou, moose and snowshoe hare.