• Login
    View Item 
    •   Home
    • University of Alaska Fairbanks
    • UAF Graduate School
    • Fisheries
    • View Item
    •   Home
    • University of Alaska Fairbanks
    • UAF Graduate School
    • Fisheries
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Browse

    All of Scholarworks@UACommunitiesPublication DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsTypeThis CollectionPublication DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsType

    My Account

    Login

    First Time Submitters, Register Here

    Register

    Statistics

    Display statistics

    Estimating sizes of fish consumed by ice seals using otolith length-fish length relationships

    • CSV
    • RefMan
    • EndNote
    • BibTex
    • RefWorks
    Thumbnail
    Name:
    Walker_K_2017.pdf
    Size:
    5.745Mb
    Format:
    PDF
    Download
    Author
    Walker, Kelly
    Chair
    Norcross, Brenda L.
    Committee
    Brown, Randy
    Lopez, Andres
    Quakenbush, Lori
    Keyword
    Bearded seal
    Food
    Alaska
    Phoca largha
    Ringed seal
    Otoliths
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/11122/8145
    Abstract
    Arctic fishes and ice seals are key components of the Alaskan Arctic ecosystem. Bearded (Erignathus barbatus), spotted (Phoca largha) and ringed (Pusa hispida) seals are consumers of Arctic marine fishes. Little is known about the sizes of fish that ice seals consume because prey items are digested quickly once exposed to stomach acids. Otoliths, fish ear bones, are often the only parts of a fish that remain in a seal stomach. Otolith length relates directly to fish length, making size estimations of consumed fish possible for piscivore diet studies. Otoliths were measured from fishes collected from cruises in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas during 2009 - 2014. Otolith length - fish length and fish length - fish weight relationships were developed for 11 Arctic marine fish species that are commonly consumed by ice seals in Alaska. Otoliths from seal stomachs provided by subsistence hunters to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game were identified to species level and measured for total length. A mixed effects model was used to determine how the variables of seal species, harvest location, seal age class and sex influenced the sizes of fish consumed. Harvest location and seal age class were the primary factors that affected fish size in ice seal stomachs. Estimating length and weights of fishes consumed by ice seals will help further diet and energetics studies that have not previously been possible in the Alaskan Arctic.
    Description
    Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2017
    Date
    2017-12
    Type
    Thesis
    Collections
    Fisheries

    entitlement

     
    ABOUT US|HELP|BROWSE|ADVANCED SEARCH

    The University of Alaska Fairbanks is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer and educational institution and is a part of the University of Alaska system.

    ©UAF 2013 - 2023 | Questions? ua-scholarworks@alaska.edu | Last modified: September 25, 2019

    Open Repository is a service operated by 
    Atmire NV
     

    Export search results

    The export option will allow you to export the current search results of the entered query to a file. Different formats are available for download. To export the items, click on the button corresponding with the preferred download format.

    By default, clicking on the export buttons will result in a download of the allowed maximum amount of items.

    To select a subset of the search results, click "Selective Export" button and make a selection of the items you want to export. The amount of items that can be exported at once is similarly restricted as the full export.

    After making a selection, click one of the export format buttons. The amount of items that will be exported is indicated in the bubble next to export format.