Salmonid species diversity predicts salmon consumption by terrestrial wildlife

1. Resource waves - spatial variation in resource phenology that extends feeding opportunities for mobile consumers - can affect the behaviour and productivity of recipient populations. Interspecific diversity among Pacific salmon species (Oncorhynchus spp.) creates staggered spawning events across space and time, thereby prolonging availability to terrestrial wildlife.
2. We aim to understand how such variation might influence consumption by terrestrial predators compared with resource abundance and intra- and inter- specific competition.
3. Using stable isotope analysis, we investigated how the proportion of salmon in the annual diet of male black bears (Ursus americanus; n = 405) varies with species diversity and density of spawning salmon biomass, while also accounting for competition with conspecific black and grizzly bears (U. arctos horribilis), in coastal British Columbia, Canada.
4. We found that the proportion of salmon in the annual diet of black bears increased by ≈40% i...