Geographical area and life history traits influence diet in an Arctic marine predator
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. This article is also available via DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.01...
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10037/10249 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0155980 |
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ftunivtroemsoe:oai:munin.uit.no:10037/10249 2023-05-15T14:26:10+02:00 Geographical area and life history traits influence diet in an Arctic marine predator Tartu, Sabrina Bourgeon, Sophie Aars, Jon Andersen, Magnus Ehrich, Dorothee Thiemann, Gregory W. Welker, Jeffrey Martin Routti, Heli 2016-05-19 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/10249 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0155980 eng eng Public Library of Science PLoS ONE http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/asset?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0155980.PDF Tartu S, Bourgeon S, Aars J, Andersen M, Ehrich D, Thiemann, Welker JM, Routti. Geographical area and life history traits influence diet in an Arctic marine predator. PLoS ONE. 2016;11(5) FRIDAID 1358605 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0155980 1932-6203 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/10249 openAccess VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480::Marinbiologi: 497 VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480::Marine biology: 497 Journal article Tidsskriftartikkel Peer reviewed 2016 ftunivtroemsoe https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0155980 2021-06-25T17:55:01Z This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. This article is also available via DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0155980 Global changes are thought to affect most Arctic species, yet some populations are more at risk. Today, the Barents Sea ecoregion is suffering the strongest sea ice retreat ever measured; and these changes are suspected to modify food access and thus diet of several species. Biochemical diet tracers enable investigation of diet in species such as polar bears (Ursus maritimus). We examined individual diet variation of female polar bears in Svalbard, Norway, and related it to year, season (spring and autumn), sampling area and breeding status (solitary, with cubs of the year or yearlings). Sampling areas were split according to their ice cover: North-West (less sea ice cover), South-East (larger amplitude in sea ice extent) and North-East/South-West (NESW) as bears from that zone are more mobile among all regions of Svalbard. We measured fatty acid (FA) composition in adipose tissue and carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) stable isotopes in plasma and red blood cells. Females feeding in the North-West area had lower δ15N values than those from the NESW. In South-East females, δ13C values were lower in autumn compared to spring and females seemed less selective in their diet as depicted by large variances in stable isotope values. Considering the differences in FA composition and stable isotope values, we suggest that females from the North-West and South-East could ingest a higher proportion of avian prey. With regard to breeding status, solitary females had higher δ15N values and smaller variance in their stable isotopic values than females with cubs, suggesting that solitary females were more selective and prey on higher trophic level species (i.e. seals). Overall, our results indicate that prey availability for Svalbard polar bears varies according to geographical area and prey selectivity differs according to breeding status. Our findings suggest that complex changes in sea ice and prey availability will interact to affect Svalbard polar bear feeding patterns and associated nutrition. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Barents Sea Sea ice Svalbard Ursus maritimus University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive Arctic Barents Sea Norway Svalbard PLOS ONE 11 5 e0155980 |
institution |
Open Polar |
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University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtroemsoe |
language |
English |
topic |
VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480::Marinbiologi: 497 VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480::Marine biology: 497 |
spellingShingle |
VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480::Marinbiologi: 497 VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480::Marine biology: 497 Tartu, Sabrina Bourgeon, Sophie Aars, Jon Andersen, Magnus Ehrich, Dorothee Thiemann, Gregory W. Welker, Jeffrey Martin Routti, Heli Geographical area and life history traits influence diet in an Arctic marine predator |
topic_facet |
VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480::Marinbiologi: 497 VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480::Marine biology: 497 |
description |
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. This article is also available via DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0155980 Global changes are thought to affect most Arctic species, yet some populations are more at risk. Today, the Barents Sea ecoregion is suffering the strongest sea ice retreat ever measured; and these changes are suspected to modify food access and thus diet of several species. Biochemical diet tracers enable investigation of diet in species such as polar bears (Ursus maritimus). We examined individual diet variation of female polar bears in Svalbard, Norway, and related it to year, season (spring and autumn), sampling area and breeding status (solitary, with cubs of the year or yearlings). Sampling areas were split according to their ice cover: North-West (less sea ice cover), South-East (larger amplitude in sea ice extent) and North-East/South-West (NESW) as bears from that zone are more mobile among all regions of Svalbard. We measured fatty acid (FA) composition in adipose tissue and carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) stable isotopes in plasma and red blood cells. Females feeding in the North-West area had lower δ15N values than those from the NESW. In South-East females, δ13C values were lower in autumn compared to spring and females seemed less selective in their diet as depicted by large variances in stable isotope values. Considering the differences in FA composition and stable isotope values, we suggest that females from the North-West and South-East could ingest a higher proportion of avian prey. With regard to breeding status, solitary females had higher δ15N values and smaller variance in their stable isotopic values than females with cubs, suggesting that solitary females were more selective and prey on higher trophic level species (i.e. seals). Overall, our results indicate that prey availability for Svalbard polar bears varies according to geographical area and prey selectivity differs according to breeding status. Our findings suggest that complex changes in sea ice and prey availability will interact to affect Svalbard polar bear feeding patterns and associated nutrition. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Tartu, Sabrina Bourgeon, Sophie Aars, Jon Andersen, Magnus Ehrich, Dorothee Thiemann, Gregory W. Welker, Jeffrey Martin Routti, Heli |
author_facet |
Tartu, Sabrina Bourgeon, Sophie Aars, Jon Andersen, Magnus Ehrich, Dorothee Thiemann, Gregory W. Welker, Jeffrey Martin Routti, Heli |
author_sort |
Tartu, Sabrina |
title |
Geographical area and life history traits influence diet in an Arctic marine predator |
title_short |
Geographical area and life history traits influence diet in an Arctic marine predator |
title_full |
Geographical area and life history traits influence diet in an Arctic marine predator |
title_fullStr |
Geographical area and life history traits influence diet in an Arctic marine predator |
title_full_unstemmed |
Geographical area and life history traits influence diet in an Arctic marine predator |
title_sort |
geographical area and life history traits influence diet in an arctic marine predator |
publisher |
Public Library of Science |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10037/10249 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0155980 |
geographic |
Arctic Barents Sea Norway Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Barents Sea Norway Svalbard |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Barents Sea Sea ice Svalbard Ursus maritimus |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Barents Sea Sea ice Svalbard Ursus maritimus |
op_relation |
PLoS ONE http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/asset?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0155980.PDF Tartu S, Bourgeon S, Aars J, Andersen M, Ehrich D, Thiemann, Welker JM, Routti. Geographical area and life history traits influence diet in an Arctic marine predator. PLoS ONE. 2016;11(5) FRIDAID 1358605 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0155980 1932-6203 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/10249 |
op_rights |
openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0155980 |
container_title |
PLOS ONE |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
e0155980 |
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