Spatial and temporal variability in the diet of Pacific marten (Martes caurina) on Haida Gwaii: an apex predator in a highly modified ecosystem

Abstract

Knowledge of the diet ecology of apex predators in insular island ecosystems has direct applications to the conservation of endemic species at risk of extinction. We used stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen to infer resource-use strategies of an indigenous predator, the Pacific marten (Martes caurina (Merriam, 1890)), in a highly modified ecosystem on Haida Gwaii, British Columbia, Canada. We used Bayesian isotopic mixing models to estimate the relative contributions of different food sources to marten diet across seasons and during overall lifetime, and to determine how diet varied with different levels of access to marine resources. Isotopes of carbon and nitrogen measured in hair and muscle tissue suggested that marten consumed salmon (3%–17%) and berries (25%–37%) seasonally; these diet groups were relatively minor components of the lifetime diet. Analysis of bone collagen suggested that terrestrial fauna — including birds, deer, small mammals, and invertebrates — contributed the most to diet (41%–55%), and marine invertebrates (38%–48%), not salmon (0%–3%), were the main allochthonous marine nutrient subsidy to lifetime diet. Plasticity in foraging ecology, combined with a broad dietary niche, introduced prey, notably the invasive Sitka black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus sitkensis Merriam, 1898), as well as abundant marine resources, may allow marten to outcompete other indigenous and endemic carnivores on Haida Gwaii.