River Otters in Prince William Sound and Kenai Fjords National Park: Distribution, Relative Abundance, and Minimum Population Size Based on Coastal Latrine Site Surveys Interagency Collaborative Project

The goals of this study were: 1. To establish baseline information on the distribution, relative abundance, and minimum number alive of river otters in Kenai Fjords National Park (KFNP) using latrine site surveys and DNA fingerprinting of fecal samples. 2. To establish baseline information on the distribution, relative abundance, and minimum number alive of river otters in Prince William Sound (PWS). 3. Compare patterns of abundance and distribution of river otters in KFNP and PWS. 4. Identify parameters that may contribute to differences in abundance and distribution of river otters in the 2 areas. Survey of the coastline in KFNP was conducted in July 5-10, 2004. In PWS the survey was conducted in August 9-21, 2004. In KFNP, we detected 162 latrine sites, of which 153 were considered active. This number of active latrines represents an average density of 0.432 latrines per km of shoreline. Among those sites we counted 5,046 old and 297 new scats. Based on these counts, fecal deposition rate in KFNP is 32.98 feces per site for old scats and 1.94 fresh feces per site. Two hundred and sixty seven (267) fresh scats were collected for DNA analysis. In PWS, sampled 286 latrine sites. Of those sites, 109 were new sites (i.e., unknown from previous surveys). On the recapture occasion we re-sampled 254 of these sites, that we considered active. This number of active latrines represents an average density of 0.269 latrines per km of shoreline. Among all latrine sites we counted 1,048 new scats and saved 302 of those for DNA analyses. For the recaptures, we counted 458 new scats and saved 263. Based on these counts, fecal deposition rate of new scats in PWS is 4.13 feces per site for the capture session and 1.80 fresh feces per site for the recapture session. A total of five hundred and sixty five (565) fresh scats were collected for DNA analysis. During the survey in KFNP, we observed over 30 river otters in a six-day period. In the course of the PWS survey, 2 however, only 5 otters were observed in a two-week period. All 832 fresh fecal samples collected in both areas were sieved. Sieving revealed a difference in the incidence of intestinal parasites in river otter feces from KFNP (parasites occurred in 36% of all samples) and PWS (parasites occurred in 10% of all samples). DNA was extracted from all 832 fresh fecal samples. …