2017
DOI: 10.1139/cjfas-2015-0558
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Harbour seals target juvenile salmon of conservation concern

Abstract: Knowing the species and life stages of prey that predators consume is important for understanding the impacts that predation may have on prey populations, but traditional methods for determining diets often cannot provide sufficient detail. We combined data from two methods of scat analysis (DNA metabarcoding and morphological prey ID) to quantify the species and life stages of salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) consumed by harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) in the Strait of Georgia, Canada, where juvenile Chinook (Oncorh… Show more

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Cited by 83 publications
(142 citation statements)
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“…Size overlap of hatchery (gray) and natural (black) juvenile Chinook salmon with hypothesized predation windows for avian (blue), marine mammal (red), and fish (green) predators, based on published studies. The central tendency measures associated with Thomas et al (2017) are based on estimated lengths during the months where their respective proportions in the harbor seal diet were the highest. The length distributions for hatchery Chinook are based on Regional Mark Information System data for releases between 2010 and 2017.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
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“…Size overlap of hatchery (gray) and natural (black) juvenile Chinook salmon with hypothesized predation windows for avian (blue), marine mammal (red), and fish (green) predators, based on published studies. The central tendency measures associated with Thomas et al (2017) are based on estimated lengths during the months where their respective proportions in the harbor seal diet were the highest. The length distributions for hatchery Chinook are based on Regional Mark Information System data for releases between 2010 and 2017.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…8). Harbor seals do appear to target juvenile Chinook salmon, but typically in mid-summer (Lance et al 2012, Thomas et al 2017, when fish are larger (average size of >100 mm). Seals tagged with GPS devices exhibited increased feeding behavior in the estuary shortly after releases of coho salmon (mean release size: 130 mm) but did not respond to far more abundant, smaller Chinook (release size: 80 mm) released only a few weeks later.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
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“…It is non-invasive, has the advantages of being quick and relatively inexpensive, and is more sensitive than hard-part remains methods (Deagle et al 2009). For example, DNA analyses detected prey to a finer taxonomic level than hard-parts analyses in Steller sea lions Eumetopia jubatus and harbour seals Phoca vitulina (Tollit et al 2009, Thomas et al 2017. The quantitative capabilities of DNA metabarcoding (i.e.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%