Research outlines how human disturbance on landscapes limits the ability of grizzly bears to feed on salmon, and the broader impacts on local ecosystems.
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Dr. Adams say the consequences go beyond undernourished bears. When grizzlies are impeded in their ability to consume salmon, the ecosystem is deprived of the resources that are made available when bears scatter the remnants of the fish they eat across the landscape. In two of the province’s largest watersheds, the cycle has been shut down by various forms of human intervention, Dr. Adams said. For example, while salmon are present in the Fraser River, much of the lower portion of watershed is densely populated with human communities and infrastructure that keep bears away. The converse is true in the Columbia River, where multiple dams have blocked salmon from reaching areas where bears are present.
Once other variables were taken into account, the team had a measure of how human activity has altered the bears’ diet. The results include a reduction of up to 59 per cent in salmon consumption for female bears with increasing human disturbance. “It is important to note that salmon was still found in the diet of bears” that were analyzed, said Scott Nielsen, a professor of conservation biology at the University of Alberta, who was not involved in the study. This implies the bears were not completely avoiding salmon streams because of an increased human footprint. Instead, the human presence may have caused them to exploit the landscape differently.
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