Article: Bear Predation on Pacific Salmon Facilitates Colonization of Carcasses by Fly Maggots

ABSTRACT.-

The carcasses of Pacific salmon can be an important food resource for aquatic and terrestrial organisms, depending on where the carcasses are located. We hypothesized that the availability of sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) carcasses to ovipositing flies (Family: Calliphoridae) would be facilitated by brown bears (Ursus arctos) moving salmon from the water to terrestrial environments. We further hypothesized that the proportion of carcasses in terrestrial environments (hence accessible to flies) would vary among streams as a function of stream size. In three small southwestern Alaska streams during 2 y, flies oviposited on about half of the carcasses in terrestrial habitats ...

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