Volume 4, July 2015, Pages 207–220
Open Access
Abstract
Industrial
developments and reclamation change habitat, possibly altering large
carnivore food base. We monitored the diet of a low-density population
of grizzly bears occupying a landscape with open-pit coal mines in
Canada. During 2009–2010 we instrumented 10 bears with GPS radiocollars
and compared their feeding on reclaimed coal mines and neighboring Rocky
Mountains and their foothills. In addition, we compared our data with
historical bear diet for the same population collected in 2001–2003,
before extensive mine reclamation occurred. Diet on mines (n=331
scats) was dominated by non-native forbs and graminoids, while diets in
the Foothills and Mountains consisted primarily of ungulates and Hedysarum spp. roots respectively, showing diet shifting with availability. Field visitation of feeding sites (n=234
GPS relocation clusters) also showed that ungulates were the main diet
component in the Foothills, whereas on reclaimed mines bears were least
carnivorous. These differences illustrate a shift to feeding on
non-native forbs while comparisons with historical diet reveal emergence
of elk as an important bear food. Food resources on reclaimed mines
attract bears from wilderness areas and bears may be more adaptable to
landscape change than previously thought. The grizzly bear’s ready use
of mines cautions the universal view of this species as umbrella
indicative of biodiversity.
Keywords
- Brown bear;
- Environmental impact;
- GPS clusters;
- Mine reclamation;
- Scat analysis;
- Ursus arctos
