Salmon consumption by Kodiak brown bears (Ursus arctos middendorffi) with ecosystem management implications

• Published in: Canadian journal of zoology Vol. 91; no. 3; pp. 164 - 174
• Main Authors: VAN DAELE, M. B, ROBBINS, C. T, SEMMENS, B. X, WARD, E. J, VAN DAELE, L. J, LEACOCK, W. B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ottawa NRC Research Press 01.03.2013; National Research Council of Canada; Canadian Science Publishing NRC Research Press
• Subjects: Animal populations; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Applied ecology; Archipelagoes; Bears; Biological and medical sciences; Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife; Ecosystem management; Ecosystems; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; Mercury; Parks, reserves, wildlife conservation. Endangered species: population survey and restocking; Population density; Predation; Predators; Salmon; Stable isotopes; North America; America; Salmonidae; Fissipedia; Carnivora; Environmental management; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Ursus arctos; Food intake; Pisces; Oncorhynchus; Predator; Environmental monitoring; Isotopes; Mercury
• ISSN: 1480-3283; 0008-4301; 1480-3283; 0008-4301
• DOI: 10.1139/cjz-2012-0221

The ecological role of large predators in North America continues to spark heated public debate. Although brown bears (Ursus arctos L., 1758) and the salmon (genus Oncorhynchus Suckley, 1861) they feed on have declined in many areas, the Kodiak archipelago is famous for large brown bears and abundant salmon. Salmon have generally been managed for maximum sustained yield in a fisheries sense, but those levels may be well below what is necessary for maximum ecosystem productivity. Consequently, we used stable isotopes and mercury accumulated in hair to estimate intake of salmon by Kodiak brown bears (Ursus arctos middendorffi Merriam, 1896). Salmon intake increased from subadult males (592 ± 325 kg·bear⁻¹·year⁻¹) to adult males (2788 ± 1929 kg·bear⁻¹·year⁻¹) and from subadult females (566 ± 360 kg·bear⁻¹·year⁻¹) to adult females (1364 ± 1261 kg·bear⁻¹·year⁻¹). Intake within each group increased 62% ± 23% as salmon escapement increased from ∼1 500 to ∼14 000 kg·bear⁻¹·year⁻¹. The estimated population of 2300 subadult and adult bears consumed 3.77 ± 0.16 million kg of salmon annually, a mass equal to ∼6% of the combined escapement and commercial harvest (57.6 million kg). Although bears consume a small portion of the total mass of adult salmon, perpetuation of dense populations of large bears requires ecosystem-based management of the meat resources and environments that produce such bears.