Contemporary diets of walruses in Bristol Bay, Alaska suggest temporal variability in benthic community structure.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Pacific walruses (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) are a conspicuous and important component of the Bristol Bay ecosystem and human social systems, but very little is known about walrus ecology in this region, principally their feeding ecology. The present work provides contemporary data on the diets of walruses at four haulout locations throughout Bristol Bay between 2014 and 2018.

Methods

We analyzed scat and gastrointestinal tract samples from these animals using quantitative polymerase chain reaction to amplify prey DNA, which allowed for diet estimates based on frequencies of prey item occurrence and on the relative importance of dietary items as determined from DNA threshold cycle scores.

Results

Diets were highly diverse at all locations, but with

SUBMITTER: Maniscalco JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7085891 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature