River Otter
River Otter Diet and Predation Project
In 2012, SeaDoc is funding a River Otter diet and predation study by Monique Lance of the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife.
The study aims to describe the diet of river otters and investigate the potential effect they have on rockfish and salmon populations in the San Juan Islands.
Rockfish and salmon are currently listed under the Federal Endangered Species Act. Because of the dramatic decline in these species over the past several decades, Marine Protected Areas have been created to assist in their recovery.
However, little attention has been paid to how predators respond to increased prey densities. Therefore it's important to investigate the diet of potential predators.
Otter scat samples were collected in the spring, summer and fall of 2008 on Fidalgo, San Juan and Orcas Islands. The scat samples have been cleaned and invertebrates in them have been identified. The project now allows for the analysis of fish remains in the scat, as well as examinations of spatial variation among the project sites and temporal variations through 2008. Data will also be compared to diet data from Alaska and British Columbia. The project will also compare diet among various predators, including harbor seals and Steller sea lions.
Photo by Michael Ransburg: Creative Commons license.
Birds and Mammals that Depend on the Salish Sea: A Compilation
Keynote Address
Does human proximity affect antibody prevalence in marine-foraging river otters?
Cryptosporidium and Giardia in marine-foraging river otters (Lontra canadensis) from the Puget Sound Georgia Basin Ecosystem
River and Sea Otters and Toxoplasma gondii
At first glance, domestic cats and river otters seem worlds apart. One thrives in our marine waters, the other despises water. One often snuggles by us in our homes at night and the other avoids humans when possible. Recent SeaDoc research, however, has shown that like our own lives and the health of the marine ecosystem, these two animals are probably more intimately connected than most of us realize.
River Otter Research
This has been a very busy and productive summer for the Marine Ecosystem Health Program (MEHP [now the SeaDoc Society]). Not only did we convene the First Biennial MEHP Science Symposium in September, but we also launched an exciting new wildlife health research project which we’d like to tell you a bit about. Joe is leading a long-term study of the health of river otters within the inland waters of Washington and British Columbia.
