Diet of a threatened endemic fox reveals variation in sandy beach resource use on California Channel Islands
| Autor: | Juliann Schamel, Jenifer E. Dugan, Nicholas K. Schooler, Linnea Palmstrom, Kyle A. Emery, Henry M. Page, David M. Hubbard, Robert J. Miller, Angela Guglielmino, Donna M. Schroeder |
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| Přispěvatelé: | Hyrenbach, David |
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
Topography
Beaches Kelp Foxes Crabs Wrack California Medicine and Health Sciences Islands Mammals education.field_of_study Multidisciplinary biology Ecology Eukaryota Plants Crustaceans Geography Habitat Vertebrates Medicine Macrocystis pyrifera Urocyon Research Article Arthropoda Life on Land General Science & Technology Science Climate Change Population Intertidal zone Animals education Ecosystem Nutrition Landforms Organisms Biology and Life Sciences Geomorphology biology.organism_classification Seaweed Invertebrates Diet Food Threatened species Amniotes Earth Sciences Zoology |
| Zdroj: | PLoS ONE PLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 10 (2021) PLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 10, p e0258919 (2021) PloS one, vol 16, iss 10 |
| ISSN: | 1932-6203 |
| Popis: | The coastal zone provides foraging opportunities for insular populations of terrestrial mammals, allowing for expanded habitat use, increased dietary breadth, and locally higher population densities. We examined the use of sandy beach resources by the threatened island fox (Urocyon littoralis) on the California Channel Islands using scat analysis, surveys of potential prey, beach habitat attributes, and stable isotope analysis. Consumption of beach invertebrates, primarily intertidal talitrid amphipods (Megalorchestia spp.) by island fox varied with abundance of these prey across sites. Distance-based linear modeling revealed that abundance of giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) wrack, rather than beach physical attributes, explained the largest amount of variation in talitrid amphipod abundance and biomass across beaches. δ13C and δ15N values of fox whisker (vibrissae) segments suggested individualism in diet, with generally low δ13C and δ15N values of some foxes consistent with specializing on primarily terrestrial foods, contrasting with the higher isotope values of other individuals that suggested a sustained use of sandy beach resources, the importance of which varied over time. Abundant allochthonous marine resources on beaches, including inputs of giant kelp, may expand habitat use and diet breadth of the island fox, increasing population resilience during declines in terrestrial resources associated with climate variability and long-term climate change. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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