Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens): Differential prey digestion and diet

Marine Mammal Science

Volumn 25, Issue 4, 2009, Pages 761-777

  Sheffield, Gay ^a,c   Grebmeier, Jacqueline M ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE   (United States)

^c ALASKA DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME   (United States)

Author keywords

Bering Sea; Chukchi Sea; Diet; Feeding habits; Odobenus rosmarus; Pacific walrus

Indexed keywords

BIVALVE; CLIMATE CHANGE; DIET; DIGESTION; FEEDING BEHAVIOR; GASTROPOD; PINNIPED; POLYCHAETE; PREY CAPTURE; SHALLOW WATER; SPECIES OCCURRENCE; STOMACH CONTENT;

ARCTIC OCEAN; BERING SEA; CHUKCHI SEA; PACIFIC OCEAN;

BIVALVIA; GASTROPODA; ODOBENIDAE; ODOBENUS ROSMARUS; ODOBENUS ROSMARUS DIVERGENS; POLYCHAETA;

EID: 70350501318     PISSN: 08240469     EISSN: 17487692     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1748-7692.2009.00316.x     Document Type: Article

References (56)

1. Anonymous. 1984. National oceanographic data center taxonomic code. Volume 1. Numerical (code order) listing. Key to oceanographic records documentation no. 15, 4th edition. National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, Washington, DC.
2. Brooks, J. W. 1954. A contribution to the life history and ecology of the Pacific walrus. Special Report 1. Alaska Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK. 103 pp.
3. Burns, J. J. 1967. The Pacific bearded seal. Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Project Report. Volume VIII: Projects W-6-R and W-14-R. Juneau, AK. 66 pp.
4. Burns, J. J., F. H. Fay, K. J. Frost and R. V. Miller. 1985. Soviet-American marine mammal research cruise on the ZRS Zakharovo, Bering Sea, 15 March-26 April 1985. Project V. 6: Marine Mammals, US-USSR Environmental Protection Agreement. 8 pp. Available from the National Marine Mammal Laboratory, Seattle, WA.
5. Chapskii, K. K. 1936. Morzh Karskogo Morya. [The walrus of the Kara Sea.] Trudy Arkticheskogo Instituta [Transactions of the Arctic Institute (Leningrad)] 67 : 1 124 Translation from Russian by F. H. Fay and B. A. Fay 1993). Available from the National Marine Mammal Laboratory, Seattle, WA.
6. Fay, F. H. 1982. Ecology and biology of the Pacific walrus, Odobenus rosmarus divergens Illiger. North American Fauna 74 : 1 279.
7. Fay, F. H. 1993. Ages of walruses taken during the Soviet-American research cruise aboard the ZRS Zakharovo, 16 September-22 October 1987. Final report to Alaska Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Anchorage, AK. 28 pp.
8. Fay, F. H., and J. J. Burns. 1988. Maximal feeding depth of walruses. Arctic 41 : 239 240.
9. Fay, F. H., and L. F. Lowry. 1981. Seasonal use and feeding habits of walruses in the proposed Bristol Bay clam fishery area. Council Document 18, North Pacific Fishery Management Council, Anchorage, AK. 61 pp.
10. Fay, F. H., and S. W. Stoker. 1982a. Analysis of reproductive organs and stomach contents from walruses taken in the Alaskan native harvest, spring 1980. Final report, contract 14-16-007-81-5216. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Anchorage, AK. 86 pp.
11. Fay, F. H., and S. W. Stoker. 1982b. Reproductive success and feeding habits of walruses taken in the 1982 spring harvest, with comparisons from previous years. Final report. Eskimo Walrus Commission, Nome, AK. 91 pp.
12. Fay, F. H., H. M. Feder and S. W. Stoker. 1977. An estimation of the impact of the Pacific walrus population on its food resources in the Bering Sea. Final report. U.S. Marine Mammal Commission, PB-272-505, National Technical Information Service, Springfield, VA. 38 pp.
13. Fay, F., R. Nelson, A. Akeya and K. Lourie. 1981. Preliminary report of the walrus research cruise of the ZRS Zvyagino. Project V. 6: Marine Mammals, US-USSR Environmental Protection Agreement. 14 pp. Available from the National Marine Mammal Laboratory, Seattle, WA.
14. Fay, F. H., R. R. Nelson and J. L. Sease. 1983. Trip report: Walrus research cruise of the ZRS Zykovo, Chukchi Sea, 24 July-22 August 1983. Project V. 6: Marine Mammals, US-USSR Environmental Protection Agreement. 14 pp. Available from the National Marine Mammal Laboratory, Seattle, WA.
15. Fay, F. H., Y. A. Bukhtiyarov, S. W. Stoker and L. M. Shults. 1984. Foods of the Pacific walrus in winter and spring in the Bering Sea. Pages 81 88 in Soviet-American cooperative research on marine mammals. Volume 1. Pinnipeds. National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, Technical Report NMFS 12.
16. Fay, F. H., B. P. Kelly, P. H. Gehnrich, J. L. Sease and A. A. Hoover. 1986. Modern populations, migrations, demography, trophics, and historical status of the Pacific walrus. Pages 231 376 in Outer Continental Shelf Assessment Program. Volume 37. Final reports of principal investigators, National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, Juneau, AK.
17. Fay, F. H., S. Hills and L. T. Quakenbush. 1989a. Determination of the age of walruses taken in the Alaskan subsistence catch, 1985-1987, together with the analysis of reproductive organs and stomach contents from the 1985 sample. Final report, contract 70181-13097-87. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Anchorage, AK. 81 pp.
18. Fay, F. H., B. P. Kelly and J. L. Sease. 1989b. Managing the exploitation of Pacific walruses: A tragedy of delayed response and poor communication. Marine Mammal Science 5 : 1 16.
19. Fay, F. H., J. L. Sease and R. L. Merrick. 1990. Predation on a ringed seal, Phoca hispida, and a black guillemont, Cepphus grille, by a Pacific walrus, Odobenus rosmarus divergens. Marine Mammal Science 6 : 348 350.
20. Fay, F. H., L. L. Eberhardt, B. P. Kelly, J. J. Burns and L. T. Quakenbush. 1997. Status of the Pacific walrus population. Marine Mammal Science 13 : 537 565.
21. Feder, H. M., and S. C. Jewett. 1981. Feeding interactions in the eastern Bering Sea with emphasis on the benthos. Pages 1229 1261 in D. W. Hood and J. A. Calder, eds. The eastern Bering Sea shelf: Oceanography and resources. Volume 2. University of Washington Press, Seattle, WA.
22. Feder, H. M., A. S. Naidu, J. M. Hameedi, S. C. Jewett and W. R. Johnson. 1991. The Chukchi Sea continental shelf: Benthos-environmental interactions. Institute of Marine Science report 91-1, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK. 250 pp.
23. Feder, H. M., A. S. Naidu, S. C. Jewett, J. M. Hameedi, W. R. Johnson and T. E. Whitledge. 1994. The northeastern Chukchi Sea: Benthos-environmental interactions. Marine Ecology Progress Series 111 : 171 190.
24. Fukuyama, A. K., and J. S. Oliver. 1985. Sea star and walrus predation on bivalves in Norton Sound, Bering Sea, Alaska. Ophelia 24 : 17 36.
25. Gehnrich, P. H. 1984. Nutritional and behavioral aspects of reproduction in walruses. M.Sc. thesis, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK. 147 pp.
26. Grebmeier, J. M., H. M. Feder and C. P. McCroy. 1989. Pelagic-benthic coupling on the shelf of the northern Bering and Chukchi Seas. II. Benthic community structure. Marine Ecology Progress Series 51 : 253 268.
27. Grebmeier, J. M., W. O. Smith, Jr. and R. J. Conover. 1995. Biological processes on Arctic continental shelves: Ice-ocean-biota interactions. Pages 231 261 in W. O. Smith, Jr. and J. M. Grebmeier, eds. Arctic oceanography: Marginal ice zones and continental shelves. American Geophysical Union, Coastal and Estuarine Studies no 49, Washington, DC.
28. Grebmeier, J. M., L. W. Cooper, H. M. Feder and B. I. Sirenko. 2006a. Ecosystem dynamics of the Pacific-influenced Northern Bering and Chukchi Seas in the Amerasian Arctic. Progress in Oceanography 71 : 331 361.
29. Grebmeier, J. M., J. E. Overland, S. E. Moore, E. V. Farley, E. C. Carmack, L. W. Cooper, K. E. Frey, J. H. Helle, F. A. McLaughlin and S. L. McNutt. 2006b. A major ecosystem shift observed in the northern Bering Sea. Science 311 : 1461 1464.
30. Hills, S., B. W. Robson and D. J. Seagars. 1991. Cruise report. Project V. 6: Marine Mammals, US-USSR Environmental Protection Agreement. 28 pp. Available from the National Marine Mammal Laboratory, Seattle, WA.
31. Jay, C. V., S. D. Farley and G. W. Garner. 2001. Summer diving behavior of male walruses in Bristol Bay, Alaska. Marine Mammal Science 17 : 617 631.
32. Jewett, S. C., and H. M. Feder. 1981. Epifaunal invertebrates of the continental shelf of the eastern Bering and Chukchi seas. Pages 1131 1154 in D. W. Hood and J. A. Calder, eds. The eastern Bering Sea shelf: Oceanography and resources. Volume 2. University of Washington Press, Seattle, WA.
33. Kenyon, K. W. 1958. Walrus and other marine mammal studies at Little Diomede Island, Alaska. Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife. Sand Point Naval Air Station, Seattle, WA. 130 pp.
34. Kozloff, E. N. 1990. Invertebrates. Saunders College Publishing, New York, NY.
35. Krylov, V. I. 1971. O Pitanii Tikhookeanskogo Morzha (Odobenus rosmarus divergens Ill). [On the food of the Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens Ill)]. Trudy Atlanticheskii Nauchno-Issledovatel'skogo Instituta Rybnogo Khoziaistva i Okeanografi, (Kalingrad) 39 : 110 116 Translation from Russian by F. H. Fay, 1973). Available from the National Marine Mammal Laboratory, Seattle, WA.
36. Lowry, L. F., and F. H. Fay. 1984. Seal eating by walruses in the Bering and Chukchi Seas. Polar Biology 3 : 11 18.
37. Lowry, L. F., K. F. Frost and J. J. Burns. 1980a. Trophic relationships among ice-inhabiting phocid seals and functionally related marine mammals in the Chukchi Sea. Pages 37 95 in Environmental assessment of the Alaskan Continental Shelf. Volume 11. Biological studies. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Marine Pollution Assessment, Boulder, CO.
38. Lowry, L. F., K. J. Frost and J. J. Burns. 1980b. Trophic relationships among ice-inhabiting phocid seals and functionally related marine mammals in the Chukchi Sea. Pages 97 173 in Environmental assessment of the Alaskan Continental Shelf. Volume 11. Biological studies. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Marine Pollution Assessment, Boulder, CO.
39. Lowry, L. F., K. J. Frost and J. J. Burns. 1980c. Feeding of bearded seals in the Bering and Chukchi seas and trophic interactions with Pacific walruses. Arctic 31 : 330 342.
40. Lowry, L. F., K. J. Frost and J. J. Burns. 1986. Assessment of marine mammal-fishery interactions in the Western Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea: Consumption of commercially important fishes by Bering Sea pinnipeds. Final report, National Marine Fisheries Service, Contract No. NA-85-ABH-00029. 26 pp.
41. Merrick, R. L., and S. Hills. 1988. Cruise report for 1987 US-USSR joint pinniped research in the Chukchi Sea, 16 September-23 October 1987. Project V. 6: Marine Mammals, US-USSR Environmental Protection Agreement. 30 pp. Available from the National Marine Mammal Laboratory, Seattle, WA.
42. Neter, J., W. Wasserman and M. H. Kutner. 1990. Applied linear statistical models: Regression, analysis of variance, and experimental designs. Irwin, Boston, MA.
43. Nikulin, P. G. 1941. Chukotsky Morzh. [The Chukchi walrus.] Izvestiia Tikhookeanskogo Nauchno-Issledovatel'skogo Instituta Rybnogo Khoziaistva i Okeanografi 20 : 21 59. (Translation from Russian by D. Wakhroucheff, 1953). Available from the National Marine Mammal Laboratory, Seattle, WA.
44. Nyholm, E. S. 1975. Observations on the walrus (Odobenus rosmarus L.) in Spitzbergen in 1971-1972. Annales de Zoologici Fennici 12 : 193 196.
45. Overland, J. E., and M. Wang. 2007. Future regional Arctic sea ice declines. Geophysical Research Letters 34 : L17705. doi : 10.1029/2007GL030808.
46. Ray, G. C., J. McCormick-Ray, P. Berg and H. E. Epstein. 2005. Pacific walrus: Benthic bioturbator of Beringia. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 330 : 403 419.
47. Sease, J. L. 1984. Cruise report of the Soviet-American walrus research cruise on the ZRS Zakharovo Bering Sea, 14 November to 17 December, 1984. Project V. 6: Marine Mammals, US-USSR Environmental Protection Agreement. 11 pp. Available from the National Marine Mammal Laboratory, Seattle, WA.
48. Sheffield, G., F. Fay, H. Feder and B. Kelly. 2001. Laboratory digestion of prey and interpretation of walrus stomach contents. Marine Mammal Science 17 : 310 330.
49. Springer, A. M., and C. P. McRoy. 1993. The paradox of pelagic food webs in the northern Bering Sea III. Patterns of primary production. Continental Shelf Research 13 : 575 599.
50. Stoker, S. W. 1978. Benthic invertebrate macrofauna of the eastern continental shelf of the Bering and Chukchi Seas. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK. 259 pp.
51. Stoker, S. W. 1981. Benthic invertebrate macrofauna of the eastern Bering/Chukchi continental shelf. Pages 1069 1090 in D. W. Hood and J. A. Calder, eds. The eastern Bering Sea shelf: Oceanography and resources. Volume 2. University of Washington Press, Seattle, WA.
52. Stroeve, J., M. M. Holland, W. Meier, T. Scambos and M. Serreze. 2007. Arctic sea ice decline: Faster than forecast. Geophysical Research Letters 34 : L09501, doi : 09510.01029/02007GL029703.
53. Taggart, S. J. 1987. Grouping behavior of Pacific walruses (Odobenus rosmarus divergens Illiger), an evolutionary perspective. Ph.D. dissertation, Institute of Marine Science, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA. 169 pp.
54. Tomilin, A. G., and A. A. Kibal'chich. 1975. Morzhi Raiona Ostrova Vrangelya. [The walruses in the vicinity of Wrangel Island.] Zoologicheskii Zhurnal 54 : 266 272. (Translation from Russian by F. H. Fay and B. A. Fay, 1975). Available from the National Marine Mammal Laboratory, Seattle, WA.
55. Vibe, C. 1950. The marine mammals and the marine fauna in the Thule district (northwest Greenland) with observations on ice conditions in 1939-41. Meddelelser om Grønland 150 : 1 115.
56. Wacasey, J. W., and E. G. Atkinson. 1987. Energy values of marine benthic invertebrates from the Canadian Arctic. Marine Ecology Progress Series 39 : 243 250.