Researchers to Study Kodiak Bear Diet
Posted on: Saturday, 15 July 2006, 00:00 CDT
KODIAK, Alaska - Researchers plan to set out Saturday for a monthlong excursion to study the plants that affect the eating habits of brown bears on Kodiak Island.
A botanical team will set up camp at the Mount Glottof research area of the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge. The goal of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service-sponsored trip is to study plants and grasses that affect the diet of the bears in the highlands of the island.
The study site is 33 miles southwest of Kodiak City.
"This is part of a federal effort to highlight a unique and important area designated for research and ecological study," said refuge manager Bill Pyle.
Brown bears number from two to seven per square mile in the area. They forage on grass in late July and later go to the lower elevations to supplement their diet with salmon.
Mount Glottof is the second tallest peak on the island, reaching 4,405 feet, slightly lower than Mount Koniag, near Old Harbor, which is about 4,500 feet.
The Mount Glottof Research Natural Area itself is about 13 by 16 miles. Researchers will focus on 4,000 acres northwest of Uganik Lake, where there are alder, cottonwood and birch trees, ferns, fireweed and sedge grasslands and wetlands.
The onsite study will continue through Aug. 10 at four base camps. Researchers include Stacy Studebaker, botanist and naturalist; Carolyn Parker, University of Alaska botanist from Fairbanks; and Eve Laeger, botanist and bryologist from the California Academy of Sciences. Local high school teacher Mike Sirofchuck is joining the group as coordinator and bear guard.
Pyle said the team also will look at mountain goats that forage and roam in the area.
In conjunction with the mammal study, the team will look at exotic plant life like sundew, a predator-type plant found in bogs that catches small insects stuck in its residue.
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Information from: Kodiak Daily Mirror, http://www.kodiakdailymirror.com
Source: Associated Press/AP Online
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