Polar bears are inefficient predators of seabird eggs
Climate-mediated sea-ice loss is disrupting the foraging ecology of polar bears ( Ursus maritimus ) across much of their range. As a result, there have been increased reports of polar bears foraging on seabird eggs across parts of their range. Given that polar bears have evolved to hunt seals on ice...
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ftzenodo:oai:zenodo.org:4649256 2024-09-15T18:02:41+00:00 Polar bears are inefficient predators of seabird eggs Jagielski, Patrick 2021-03-30 https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.prr4xgxjw unknown Zenodo https://zenodo.org/communities/dryad https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.prr4xgxjw oai:zenodo.org:4649256 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode info:eu-repo/semantics/other 2021 ftzenodo https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.prr4xgxjw 2024-07-25T13:09:44Z Climate-mediated sea-ice loss is disrupting the foraging ecology of polar bears ( Ursus maritimus ) across much of their range. As a result, there have been increased reports of polar bears foraging on seabird eggs across parts of their range. Given that polar bears have evolved to hunt seals on ice, they may not be efficient predators of seabird eggs. We investigated bears' foraging performance on common eider ( Somateria mollissima ) eggs on Mitivik Island, Nunavut, Canada to test whether bear decision-making heuristics are consistent with expectations of optimal foraging theory. Using aerial-drones, we recorded multiple foraging bouts over eleven days, and found that as clutches were depleted to completion, bears did not exhibit foraging behaviours matched to resource density. Bears visited fewer nests overall as the season progressed, but marginally increased their visitation to nests that were already empty. Bears did not display different movement modes related to nest density, but became less selective in their choice of clutches to consume. Lastly, bears that capitalized on visual cues of flushing eider hens significantly increased the number of clutches they consumed; however, they did not use this strategy consistently or universally. The foraging behaviours exhibited by polar bears in this study suggest they are inefficient predators of seabird eggs, particularly in the context of matching behaviours to resource density. Other/Unknown Material Common Eider Nunavut Sea ice Somateria mollissima Ursus maritimus Zenodo |
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Climate-mediated sea-ice loss is disrupting the foraging ecology of polar bears ( Ursus maritimus ) across much of their range. As a result, there have been increased reports of polar bears foraging on seabird eggs across parts of their range. Given that polar bears have evolved to hunt seals on ice, they may not be efficient predators of seabird eggs. We investigated bears' foraging performance on common eider ( Somateria mollissima ) eggs on Mitivik Island, Nunavut, Canada to test whether bear decision-making heuristics are consistent with expectations of optimal foraging theory. Using aerial-drones, we recorded multiple foraging bouts over eleven days, and found that as clutches were depleted to completion, bears did not exhibit foraging behaviours matched to resource density. Bears visited fewer nests overall as the season progressed, but marginally increased their visitation to nests that were already empty. Bears did not display different movement modes related to nest density, but became less selective in their choice of clutches to consume. Lastly, bears that capitalized on visual cues of flushing eider hens significantly increased the number of clutches they consumed; however, they did not use this strategy consistently or universally. The foraging behaviours exhibited by polar bears in this study suggest they are inefficient predators of seabird eggs, particularly in the context of matching behaviours to resource density. |
format |
Other/Unknown Material |
author |
Jagielski, Patrick |
spellingShingle |
Jagielski, Patrick Polar bears are inefficient predators of seabird eggs |
author_facet |
Jagielski, Patrick |
author_sort |
Jagielski, Patrick |
title |
Polar bears are inefficient predators of seabird eggs |
title_short |
Polar bears are inefficient predators of seabird eggs |
title_full |
Polar bears are inefficient predators of seabird eggs |
title_fullStr |
Polar bears are inefficient predators of seabird eggs |
title_full_unstemmed |
Polar bears are inefficient predators of seabird eggs |
title_sort |
polar bears are inefficient predators of seabird eggs |
publisher |
Zenodo |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.prr4xgxjw |
genre |
Common Eider Nunavut Sea ice Somateria mollissima Ursus maritimus |
genre_facet |
Common Eider Nunavut Sea ice Somateria mollissima Ursus maritimus |
op_relation |
https://zenodo.org/communities/dryad https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.prr4xgxjw oai:zenodo.org:4649256 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.prr4xgxjw |
_version_ |
1810440118098460672 |