Estimating Sea Otter Home Range in Amchitka and Kodiak

Prey availability is important in structuring animal resource use, with specific effects on the size
and shape of animals’ home ranges — the primary areas in which they live and move (Fauvelle
et al., 2017). The field of movement ecology has grown rapidly in the last decade and
understanding the concept of a home range and why it occurs is important for wildlife
management and conservation (Allen & Singh, 2016). Specifically, estimating the size and space
use of an animal’s home range is important in ecology because it is where an animal does its
daily activities, indicating the close relationship between the individual and its environment
(Rühmann et al., 2019). Sea otters are considered a keystone species and have developed
important ecological relationships with the nearshore marine ecosystems they live in (Larson &
Bodkin, 2015). One of the most important factors of their habitat is the availability of adequate

food resources (Larson & Bodkin, 2015). Food as a structuring resource is cited in many home-
range studies, however, individual behavior under conditions of high and low resource

abundance are seldom available (Tinker et al., 2008). The aim of this study is to compare how
prey availability affects the home range size of sea otters in two different locations in Alaska.