Polar Bear Foraging Behavior

Pagano, Anthony M.

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-66796-2_13

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…Their adaptive capacity will depend on the magnitude and velocity of environmental change, as well as on whether alternative food sources meet the nutritional requirements of consumers (4, 46). For instance, it has been suggested that the switch of polar bears from marine prey to terrestrial food sources (e.g., berries or bird nests) in response to reduced sea-ice extent due to climate change is associated with declines in body size, body condition and reproduction (47).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trophic adaptation of large terrestrial omnivores to global change

Albrecht,

Bocherens,

Hobson

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Large omnivores at the top of food webs play a key role in ecosystems, as their ability to feed on multiple trophic levels stabilizes food-web dynamics and impacts ecosystem functioning. However, it is largely unexplored how large omnivores adapt their trophic interactions to altered resource availability under global change, particularly in terrestrial ecosystems. Here, we combine macroecological and paleoecological approaches and reveal that extant bears, the largest terrestrial omnivores, adapt their trophic position in food webs dynamically to net primary productivity and growing season length. Throughout their geographic ranges, extant bears occupy higher trophic positions in unproductive ecosystems with short growing seasons than in productive ecosystems with long growing seasons. Consistent with this geographic pattern, the trophic position of the brown bear sharply decreased at the transition from the Late Pleistocene to the Holocene, coinciding with an increase in net primary productivity and growing season length. These findings demonstrate that trophic interactions of omnivores are not static but change dynamically in response to environmental change. Our findings suggest that global change impacts on primary production and vegetation seasonality may trigger shifts in the functional role of omnivores, with consequences for food webs and ecosystem functions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%