Spatial variation in grizzly bear diet across British Columbia
department or school: Science, Irving K. Barber Faculty of (Okanagan)
department or school: Earth, Environmental and Geographic Sciences, Department of (Okanagan)
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCO
creator: Van Elslander, Jonathan
issued: 2024-04-29T13:57:57Z
issued: 2024
related degree: Master of Science - MSc
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Dietary niche variation is a key facet of an animal’s niche and can be a driver of spatial variation in behaviour, population dynamics, and sensitivity to anthropogenic threats. Spatial assessments of the variation of an animal’s dietary niche helps provide key baseline knowledge for the research and management of a species and are particularly important for species with large geographic ranges and highly variable niches. Grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) are a wide-ranging omnivorous mammal with enormous dietary flexibility and a species of concern in Canada. I estimated the proportion of vegetation, terrestrial meat, anadromous salmon, and non- anadromous kokanee salmon in the diet of over 1800 grizzly bears via stable isotope analyses of over 2500 guard hair samples collected across the province of British Columbia. Using these estimates, I created fine-scale maps of grizzly bear diet using a parametric generalized additive mixed effects model with spatial random fields. The results of these predictive models showed that spatial distribution of grizzly bear’s dietary niche in B.C. can be broadly categorized into coastal areas where bears are reliant on salmon, and interior areas where they are reliant on plant foods. Terrestrial meat sources and kokanee salmon provided important supplements to bear diet in certain regions, but nowhere were they as important to bear diet as plants or salmon. These results also showed that spatial variation in grizzly bear diet is not currently reflected in the boundaries of B.C.’s Grizzly Bear Population Units, which represents a major obstacle to effective management across the province.
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/88048
note: Spatial Variation in Grizzly Bear Diet Across British Columbia by Jonathan Van Elslander B.Sc. (Honours), Simon Fraser University, 2016 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE in THE COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Earth and Environmental Sciences) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Okanagan) April 2024 © Jonathan Van Elslander, 2024 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the College of Graduate Studies for acceptance, a thesis entitled: Spatial Variation in Grizzly Bear Diet Across British Columbia submitted by Jonathan Van Elslander in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Science . Dr. Mathieu Bourbonnais, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science Supervisor Dr. Garth Mowat, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science Supervisory Committee Member Ed Hornibrook, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science Supervisory Committee Member Kaitlyn Gaynor, University of British Columbia (Vancouver) University Examiner Click or tap h ere t o ente r text. External Examiner iii Abstract Dietary niche variation is a key facet of an animal’s niche and can be a driver of spatial variation in behaviour, population dynamics, and sensitivity to anthropogenic threats. Spatial assessments of the variation of an animal’s dietary niche helps provide key baseline knowledge for the research and management of a species and are particularly important for species with large geographic ranges and highly variable niches. Grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) are a wide-ranging omnivorous mammal with enormous dietary flexibility and a species of concern in Canada. I estimated the proportion of vegetation, terrestrial meat, anadromous salmon, and non-anadromous kokanee salmon in the diet of over 1800 grizzly bears via stable isotope analyses of over 2500 guard hair samples collected across the province of British Columbia. Using these estimates, I created fine-scale maps of grizzly bear diet using a para…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2024-05
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0441988
language: eng
degree discipline: Earth and Environmental Sciences
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Bourbonnais, Mathieu
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/88048