Reductions in the dietary niche of southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis) from the Holocene to the Anthropocene.

ABSTRACT: The sea otter (Enhydra lutris) is a marine mammal hunted to near extinction during the 1800s. Despite their well-known modern importance as a keystone species, we know little about historical sea otter ecology. Here, we characterize the ecological niche of ancient southern sea otters (E. lutris nereis) using δ¹³C analysis and δ¹⁵N analysis of bones recovered from archaeological sites spanning ~7,000 to 350 years before present (N = 112 individuals) at five regions along the coast of California. These data are compared with previously published data on modern animals (N = 165) and potential modern prey items. In addition, we analyze the δ¹⁵N of individual amino acids for 23 individuals to test for differences in sea otter trophic

SUBMITTER: Elliott Smith EA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7141068 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature