Biological and Physical Environmental Drivers of Diet Variation in Northern Fur Seals.

ABSTRACT: The eastern Bering is a productive high-latitude ecosystem characterized by high interannual variability in physical environmental conditions that impact biological communities. We investigated how the diet composition of northern fur seals (Callorhinus ursinus) breeding on the Pribilof Islands was influenced by this variation, focusing on water temperatures (surface and bottom) and an index of walleye pollock abundance within foraging areas. We also explored whether interannual variation in diet composition influenced fur seal pup mortality rates or body mass. The frequency of occurrence (FO) of all eight fur seal prey groups detected from hard parts analysis of samples collected from 1987 to 2012 was affected by interannual variation in at least one of the three environmental variables.

SUBMITTER: McHuron EA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12361816 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature