Conwell Holland C, Lewis Zoë K, Thomas Austen, Acevedo-Gutiérrez Alejandro, Schwarz Dietmar
Biology Department Western Washington University Bellingham Washington USA.
Smith-Root Vancouver Washington USA.
Ecol Evol. 2024 Jul 3;14(7):e11417. doi: 10.1002/ece3.11417. eCollection 2024 Jul.
The lack of recovery of Chinook salmon () in the Pacific Northwest has been blamed in part on predation by pinnipeds, particularly the harbor seal (). Previous work at a limited number of locations has shown that male seal diet contains more salmon than that of female seals and that sex ratios at haul-out sites differ spatiotemporally. This intrapopulation variation in predation may result in greater effects on salmon than suggested by models assuming equal spatial distribution and diet proportion. To address the generality of these patterns, we examined the sex ratios and diet of male and female harbor seals from 13 haul-out sites in the inland waters of Washington State and the province of British Columbia during 2012-2018. DNA metabarcoding was conducted to determine prey species proportions of individual scat samples. The sex of harbor seals was then determined from each scat matrix sample with the use of quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). We analyzed 2405 harbor seal scat samples using generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) to examine the factors influencing harbor seal sex ratio at haul-out sites and permutational multivariate analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) to examine the influence of sex and haul-out site on harbor seal diet composition. We found that the overall sex ratio was 1:1.02 (female:male) with notable spatiotemporal variation. Salmoniformes were about 2.6 times more abundant in the diet of males than in the diet of females, and Chinook salmon comprised ca. three times more of the average male harbor seal's diet than the average female's diet. Based on site-specific sex ratios and diet data, we identified three haul-out sites where Chinook salmon appear to be under high predation pressure by male harbor seals: Cowichan Bay, Cutts Area, and Fraser River. Our study indicates that combining sex-specific pinniped diet data with the sex ratio of haul-out sites can help identify priority sites of conservation concern.
太平洋西北地区奇努克鲑()数量未能恢复,部分原因归咎于鳍足类动物的捕食,尤其是斑海豹()。此前在少数地点开展的研究表明,雄性海豹的食物中鲑鱼的比例高于雌性海豹,且海豹上岸地点的性别比例随时间和空间变化。这种种群内部捕食情况的差异,可能对鲑鱼造成比假设空间分布和饮食比例均等的模型所显示的更大影响。为探究这些模式的普遍性,我们在2012年至2018年期间,对华盛顿州内陆水域和不列颠哥伦比亚省13个海豹上岸地点的雄性和雌性斑海豹的性别比例及饮食情况进行了研究。通过DNA宏条形码技术确定单个粪便样本中的猎物种类比例。然后利用定量聚合酶链反应(qPCR)从每个粪便样本基质中确定斑海豹的性别。我们使用广义线性混合模型(GLMMs)分析了2405个斑海豹粪便样本,以研究影响海豹上岸地点性别比例的因素,并通过置换多变量方差分析(PERMANOVA)来研究性别和上岸地点对斑海豹饮食组成的影响。我们发现总体性别比例为1:1.02(雌性:雄性),且存在显著的时空变化。鲑形目在雄性海豹饮食中的丰富度约为雌性海豹的2.6倍,奇努克鲑在雄性斑海豹平均饮食中的占比约为雌性的三倍。根据特定地点的性别比例和饮食数据,我们确定了三个奇努克鲑似乎受到雄性斑海豹高捕食压力的上岸地点:考伊琴湾、卡茨地区和弗雷泽河。我们的研究表明,将特定性别的鳍足类动物饮食数据与上岸地点的性别比例相结合,有助于确定需要重点关注保护的地点。