KODIAK — Biologists are working to figure out why berries in Kodiak have been coming out considerably earlier in the last two years and how bears could be affected by the change.
Berry season is peaking closer to the salmon run, bears’ other main food source. Biologist Bill Pyle with the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge said the overlap could be a concern, because all the major food resources “could be concentrated in a shorter amount of time instead of spread out.”
“It may be beneficial if it was longer, but we really don’t know,” Pyle told The Kodiak Daily Mirror.
The refuge is surveying four species important to bears — salmonberries, blueberries, elderberries and devil’s club — to determine whether warmer temperatures have impacted their growth.
“To some extent it is linked to climate,” Pyle said. “This year, just looking at the temperature record, it was 2.5 (degrees) centigrade above the long-term average. That’s very large.”
Pyle said berries came out this year about “a week to 10 days in advance of last year.” The refuge did not conduct a survey of berry sites in 2014, but Pyle said the fruit was also considered early last year and that this year’s berry crop is likely three weeks to a month earlier than the normal long-term calendar.
Despite the early growth, berries and salmon appear to be in abundance in Kodiak, compared to the late 2000s when the refuge reported a sharp decline in the bear population.
A recent study completed through a partnership between the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge and the University of Montana shows that southwest Kodiak’s bear population is on the rise. Will Deacy, one of the researchers, found that the population of bear cubs grew as salmon runs and berry growth improved.
