Urban Landscape Influences on the Diet and Foraging Behavior of Fishers

Urbanization and an increasing human population continue to threaten equilibrium of natural ecosystems and influence trophic dynamics. Consumers, especially carnivores, are known to either experience population declines in urban ecosystems or profit from exploiting anthropogenic food. Fishers (Martes pennanti), reintroduced in Vermont in the 1950’s, prevail in both urban and rural landscapes across the state. Using live trapping in the field and stable isotope analysis of hair samples, this project seeks to understand the food sources exploited by fishers in different habitats and the adaptability of fisher diet to human-influenced landscapes.  I expect differing ratios of carbon and nitrogen between urban and rural settings, reflecting a higher amount of anthropogenic food sources exploited by fishers in urban ecosystems. The presence of higher d¹³C values will indicate consumption of corn and corn products predominant in human foods, providing evidence for the flexibility of fisher diet and capacity to persist in human-influenced environments. Knowledge of fisher diet in Vermont will inform hunting and trapping regulations, and offer some of the first evidence of the fisher’s dietary niche within the state.