Harbour Seal Hardparts Diet Data

These are the results of the morphological prey hard parts ID of collected scat samples, with corresponding sample IDs to those in Harbour_Seal_DNA_Diet_Data.csv (Fig. 3). These data can be used to make direct comparisons between the traditional seal diet analysis technique (prey hard parts analysis) and the newly developed diet characterization method (DNA metabarcoding diet analysis). Notes for Harbour_Seal_Hardparts_Diet_Data.csv: The .csv file contains data in five fields: 1. Sample ID – the scat sample ID that corresponds to “sample ID” in the DNA dataset. 2. Prey Species – the prey species scientific name. 3. Salmon classification – Binary age classification for salmon structures as noted by the analyst. 4. Sample comments – Additional comments about the specific prey hard structure. 5. Analyst – The name of the prey hard parts identification analyst. Because the prey hard parts analysis was conducted by three different analysts without an existing standardization protocol, the reported results varied slightly throughout the dataset. Here we attempted to preserve as much of information provided by the analyst as possible in the “Sample comments” field. Further, given the intense interest in salmon predation by harbour seals and the large magnitude differences in consumption estimates depending on prey life stage, we have included the binary salmon age classification (Juvenile, Adult). We should acknowledge however that seals consume salmon prey in a wide range of age/size classes, and this binary scheme is an oversimplification.