scholarly journals Activity patterns in the reintroduced Pyrenean brown bear population

2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 435-444
Author(s):  
Aida Parres ◽  
Santiago Palazón ◽  
Ivan Afonso ◽  
Pierre-Yves Quenette ◽  
Antoni Batet ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ursus Arctos ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Brown Bear ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Mating Season ◽  
Intraspecific Interactions ◽  
Management Interventions ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Time Selection

Abstract Mammals usually adjust behavioral patterns when exposed to disturbances. Elusiveness and low-risk time selection may reduce their stress in periods of highest risk. In Europe, brown bears (Ursus arctos) coexist with humans in densely populated and modified landscapes and, consequently, are exposed to human-caused disturbances during the daytime hours. Furthermore, intraspecific interactions might also influence their behavioral responses, especially during the mating season. Activity patterns of several large carnivores have been thoroughly studied; however, research is scarce for relocated populations. Here, we report the activity patterns in the reintroduced brown bear population in the Pyrenees. We expected the bears to reduce their activity depending on the type and level of disturbances. We analyzed individual behavior of both sexes (males, solitary females, and females with offspring) and age groups (adults and subadults) using camera-trap surveys under different types of intraspecific and anthropogenic disturbances. In general, bears were more active during the night (2200–0600 h) and avoided peaks of human activity (1000–1800 h). Furthermore, with the increasing nocturnal disturbance of adult males during the mating season, females with offspring and subadults were more active during daylight. This suggests that vulnerable individuals showed high tolerance for human presence. These results contribute to improve our knowledge of how a threatened and relocated bear population behaves in a human-modified landscape of southern Europe. Further research on this population will be crucial to establish optimal management interventions during translocations, and the prevention of human-bear encounters and conflicts.

scholarly journals Human shields mediate sexual conflict in a top predator

2016 ◽  
Vol 283 (1833) ◽  
pp. 20160906 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. M. J. G. Steyaert ◽  
M. Leclerc ◽  
F. Pelletier ◽  
J. Kindberg ◽  
S. Brunberg ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Selection ◽  
Sexual Conflict ◽  
Resource Selection ◽  
Ursus Arctos ◽  
Brown Bear ◽  
Offspring Survival ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Predator Prey ◽  
Cascading Effects ◽  
Survival And Reproduction

Selecting the right habitat in a risky landscape is crucial for an individual's survival and reproduction. In predator–prey systems, prey often can anticipate the habitat use of their main predator and may use protective associates (i.e. typically an apex predator) as shields against predation. Although never tested, such mechanisms should also evolve in systems in which sexual conflict affects offspring survival. Here, we assessed the relationship between offspring survival and habitat selection, as well as the use of protective associates, in a system in which sexually selected infanticide (SSI), rather than interspecific predation, affects offspring survival. We used the Scandinavian brown bear ( Ursus arctos ) population with SSI in a human-dominated landscape as our model system. Bears, especially adult males, generally avoid humans in our study system. We used resource selection functions to contrast habitat selection of GPS-collared mothers that were successful (i.e. surviving litters, n = 19) and unsuccessful (i.e. complete litter loss, n = 11) in keeping their young during the mating season (2005–2012). Habitat selection was indeed a predictor of litter survival. Successful mothers were more likely to use humans as protective associates, whereas unsuccessful mothers avoided humans. Our results suggest that principles of predator–prey and fear ecology theory (e.g. non-consumptive and cascading effects) can also be applied to the context of sexual conflict.

scholarly journals Intraovarian Immunolocalization of Steroidogenic Enzymes in a Hokkaido Brown Bear, Ursus arctos yesoensis during the Mating Season.

1996 ◽  
Vol 58 (8) ◽  
pp. 787-790 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroshi ARAKI ◽  
Toshio TSUBOTA ◽  
Naoko MAEDA ◽  
Nobuhiro HARADA ◽  
Shiro KOMINAMI ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ursus Arctos ◽  
Brown Bear ◽  
Mating Season ◽  
Steroidogenic Enzymes

scholarly journals Movement and heart rate in the Scandinavian brown bear (Ursus arctos)

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie Blanchet ◽  
Boris Fuchs ◽  
Ole-Gunnar Støen ◽  
Audrey Bergouignan ◽  
Andrés Ordiz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heart Rate ◽  
Metabolic Rate ◽  
Ursus Arctos ◽  
Animal Movement ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Brown Bear ◽  
Active Phase ◽  
Time Of Day ◽  
Heart Rate Change ◽  
Reproductive Status

Abstract Background Understanding animal movement facilitates better management and conservation. The link between movement and physiology holds clues to the basic drivers of animal behaviours. In bears, heart rate increases with the metabolic rate during the active phase. Their movement and heart rate change at seasonal and daily scales, and can also depend on environmental factors. Their behaviour is, therefore, flexible in activity patterns with high individual variations. The aim of this study was to establish the relationship between heart rate and distance travelled, and test whether this relationship was influenced by environmental (e.g., time of year and time of day) and biological (e.g., reproductive status, sex, body mass and age of the bears) factors. We analysed data of distance travelled and heart rate of 15 GPS-collared brown bears, both males and females, equipped with cardiac loggers in the south of Sweden in 2014–2017. Results Heart rate increased with distances travelled exceeding 50 m in an hour, but this correlation depended on the day-of-year with higher heart rate in August than in May. Bears accompanied by cubs had lower heart rate than solitary bears especially in May. When movement was minimum (< 50 m in an hour), heart rate was not related to distance travelled and was very variable, regardless of the months. Conclusions Our findings suggest that heart rate increases with long distances travelled, but varies with day-of-year and reproductive status, depending on the metabolic rate. Studying the change in heart rate in bears can help to evaluate their seasonal rhythms and how different factors affect them. This study illustrates the usefulness of combined bio-logging proxies, i.e., movement and heart rates in our case, in animal ecology.

scholarly journals Visual marking in mammals first proved by manipulations of brown bear tree debarking

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincenzo Penteriani ◽  
Enrique González-Bernardo ◽  
Alfonso Hartasánchez ◽  
Héctor Ruiz-Villar ◽  
Ana Morales-González ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ursus Arctos ◽  
Brown Bear ◽  
Visual Display ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Mammal Species ◽  
Visual Marking ◽  
Human Ability ◽  
Intraspecific Communication ◽  
Visual Signalling ◽  
First Time

AbstractThe rather limited human ability to understand animal vision and visual signalling has frequently clouded our expectations concerning the visual abilities of other animals. But there are multiple reasons to suspect that visual signalling is more widely employed by animals than previously thought. Because visibility of visual marks depends on the background in which they are seen, species spending most of their time living in dark conditions (e.g., in forests and/or having crepuscular and nocturnal habits) may rely on bright signals to enhance visual display. Here, as a result of experimental manipulations, we present, for the first time ever, evidence supporting the use of a new channel of intraspecific communication by a mammal species, i.e., brown bear Ursus arctos adult males relying on visual marks during mating. Bear reactions to our manipulation suggest that visual signalling could represent a widely overlooked mechanism in mammal communication, which may be more broadly employed than was previously thought.

scholarly journals Brown bear communication hubs: patterns and correlates of tree rubbing and pedal marking at a long-term marking site

PeerJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. e10447
Author(s):  
Eloy Revilla ◽  
Damián Ramos Fernández ◽  
Alberto Fernández-Gil ◽  
Agnieszka Sergiel ◽  
Nuria Selva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Communication ◽  
Ursus Arctos ◽  
Brown Bear ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Communication Behaviors ◽  
Brown Bears ◽  
Low Frequencies ◽  
A Site

Chemical communication is important for many species of mammals. Male brown bears, Ursus arctos, mark trees with a secretion from glands located on their back. The recent discovery of pedal glands and pedal-marking at a site used for tree-rubbing led us to hypothesize that both types of marking form part of a more complex communication system. We describe the patterns of chemical communication used by different age and sex classes, including differences in the roles of these classes as information providers or receivers over four years at a long-term marking site. Using video recordings from a camera trap, we registered a total of 285 bear-visits and 419 behavioral events associated with chemical communication. Bears visited the site more frequently during the mating season, during which communication behaviors were more frequent. A typical visit by male bears consisted of sniffing the depressions where animals pedal mark, performing pedal-marking, sniffing the tree, and, finally, rubbing against the trunk of the tree. Adult males performed most pedal- and tree-marking (95% and 66% of the cases, respectively). Males pedal-marked and tree-rubbed in 81% and 48% of their visits and sniffed the pedal marks and the tree in 23% and 59% of visits, respectively. Adult females never pedal marked, and juveniles did so at very low frequencies. Females rubbed against the tree in just 9% of their visits; they sniffed the tree and the pedal marks in 51% and 21% of their visits, respectively. All sex and age classes performed pedal- and tree-sniffing. There were significant associations between behaviors indicating that different behaviors tended to occur during the same visit and were more likely if another individual had recently visited. These associations leading to repeated marking of the site can promote the establishment of long-term marking sites. Marking sites defined by trees and the trails leading to them seem to act as communication hubs that brown bears use to share and obtain important information at population level.

scholarly journals Seasonal movements of brown bears in the Middle Sikhote-Alin

2021 ◽  
pp. 78-86
Author(s):  
И.В. СЕРЁДКИН
Keyword(s):  
Ursus Arctos ◽  
Far East ◽  
Brown Bear ◽  
Young Male ◽  
Pinus Koraiensis ◽  
Sikhote Alin ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Brown Bears ◽  
Seasonal Movements ◽  
Quercus Mongolica

Бурый медведь (Ursus arctos) на территории Дальнего Востока играет важную роль в экосистемах и имеет большое практическое значение для человека, являясь ценным объектом охоты. Важной экологической характеристикой популяции является использование пространства, включая сезонные перемещения особей. Оценивали сезонные перемещения 12 взрослых самцов, семи взрослых самок, одного молодого самца и одной молодой самки бурых медведей на Среднем Сихотэ-Алине в 1993–2011 гг. с помощью радио- и GPS-телеметрии. Для описания сезонных перемещений использовали линейную дистанцию между двумя локациями или сумму линейных смещений между последовательными локациями особей. Животных с целью мечения отлавливали лапозахватывающими ловушками Олдрича на лесных тропах и с использованием приманки; обездвиживали при помощи дистанционного инъектора с использованием анестезирующих препаратов. Значительные линейные смещения медведей наблюдали во все сезоны внеберложного периода, наибольшие из них достигали 111.5 км. Сезонные перемещения самцов были более выраженными по сравнению с таковыми самок. В постберложный период медведи совершали переходы от берлог к весенним кормовым стациям. В летний период переходы были связаны с пищевым и репродуктивным поведением. Осенью в период нажировки медведи активно перемещались в поисках нажировочных кормов – орехов сосны корейской (Pinus koraiensis) и желудей дуба монгольского (Quercus mongolica). В предберложный период медведи совершали переходы в места залегания в берлоги. Исследования, выполненные с помощью телеметрии, расширили знания экологии бурого медведя на Сихотэ-Алине, которые важны для научно обоснованного управления его популяцией. On the territory of the Far East, the brown bear (Ursus arctos) plays an important role in the ecosystems and, being valuable hunting species, has a great practical value for humans. The space use including the seasonal movements of specimens is an important ecological characteristic of population. The seasonal movements of 12 adult males, seven adult females, one young male and one young female of brown bears were evaluated in the Middle Sikhote-Alin in 1993–2011 with the use of radio- and GPS-telemetry. For description of seasonal movements, the linear distance between two locations or sum of linear displacements between the successive locations of specimens were used. With the purpose of marking, the animals were caught by the Aldrich foot snares on the forest trails and with the use of baits, immobilized using the remote injector and anesthetics. Significant linear movements of bears were observed in all seasons of the non-denning period and the largest of them reached 111.5 km. Seasonal movements of males were more pronounced than those of females. In the post-denning period, bears made passages from dens to spring feeding stations. In the summer season, the movements were related to feeding and reproductive behavior. In autumn, during the hyperphagia, the bears moved actively in search of fattening feed: Korean pine nuts (Pinus koraiensis) and Mongolian oak acorns (Quercus mongolica). In the pre-denning period, bears made passages to den places. The telemetry studies have broadened the knowledge of the brown bear ecology in the Sikhote-Alin, which is important to scientifically grounded management of its population.

Daily activity patterns of brown bear (Ursus arctos) of the Sikhote-Alin mountain range (Primorskiy Krai, Russia)

2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. V. Seryodkin ◽  
A. V. Kostyria ◽  
J. M. Goodrich ◽  
D. G. Miquelle
Keyword(s):  
Daily Activity ◽  
Ursus Arctos ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Brown Bear ◽  
Mountain Range ◽  
Sikhote Alin ◽  
Daily Activity Patterns

scholarly journals Infanticide as a male reproductive strategy has a nutritive risk effect in brown bears

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 20130624 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. M. J. G. Steyaert ◽  
C. Reusch ◽  
S. Brunberg ◽  
J. E. Swenson ◽  
K. Hackländer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Resource Selection ◽  
Ursus Arctos ◽  
Brown Bear ◽  
Mating Season ◽  
Predator Prey ◽  
Risk Effects ◽  
Risk Effect ◽  
Risk Period ◽  
Common Strategy ◽  
Spatio Temporal

Behavioural strategies to reduce predation risk can incur costs, which are often referred to as risk effects. A common strategy to avoid predation is spatio-temporal avoidance of predators, in which prey typically trade optimal resources for safety. Analogous with predator–prey theory, risk effects should also arise in species with sexually selected infanticide (SSI), in which females with dependent offspring avoid infanticidal males. SSI can be common in brown bear ( Ursus arctos ) populations and explains spatio-temporal segregation among reproductive classes. Here, we show that in a population with SSI, females with cubs-of-the-year had lower quality diets than conspecifics during the SSI high-risk period, the mating season. After the mating season, their diets were of similar quality to diets of their conspecifics. Our results suggest a nutritive risk effect of SSI, in which females with cubs-of-the-year alter their resource selection and trade optimal resources for offspring safety. Such risk effects can add to female costs of reproduction and may be widespread among species with SSI.

scholarly journals Epidemiology of Different Types of Cancers Reported in Basra, Iraq

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 295
Author(s):  
Rafid A. Abood ◽  
Kareem A. Abdahmed ◽  
Seena S. Mazyed
Keyword(s):  
Cancer Incidence ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Cancer Control ◽  
Incidence Rates ◽  
Cancer Type ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Geographical Regions ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Risk Of Cancer

Objectives: This study aimed to report the incidence and pattern of various types of cancers and their distribution across various demographic groups in Basra, Iraq. Methods: Cancer cases recorded during 2017 at the Basra Cancer Control Centre, the Department of Pathology and Forensic Medicine, the Basra Oncology and Hematology Centre, the Basra Children’s Hospital and at private laboratories were included in the study. Patients’ records were analysed for information related to age, gender, residence and type of cancer. Incidences for different geographical regions and distribution of incidences across age groups were recorded as percentages. The mean age was recorded for patients of different genders and age groups. Incidence rates per 100,000 were calculated for different types of cancer. Results: A total of 2,163 cancer cases were identified of which 2,020 were in adults (93.4%) and 143 were in children (6.6%). Among adults, most cancers were found in females (59%). Patients’ mean age at diagnosis was 51.4 ± 19.6 years for adults and 6.4 ± 4.23 years for children. Cancer incidence rates per 100,000 people increased with age. Breast cancer was the most frequent cancer type found in adult females, with an incidence rate of 60.64 per 100,000 people. The most common types of cancer found in adult males were urinary bladder and lung and bronchus cancers; leukaemia was the most common cancer in children. Conclusion: The findings from this study can be used for predicting cancer epidemiology in Basra, Iraq, and to identify subsets of the population at high risk of cancer incidence. This information will help healthcare providers to adequately respond to the demands of diagnosis, treatment and palliative care for such patients.Keywords: Neoplasms; Incidence; Epidemiology; Demography; Iraq.

Size-At-Age Variability and Sexual Dimorphism of Morphometric Characteristics in the Late Ontogenesis of the Marsh Frog, Pelophylax Ridibundus (Anura, Ranidae), from Terrytory of Crimea

2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 325-334
Author(s):  
V. N. Peskov ◽  
N. A. Petrenko ◽  
V. Yu. Reminnyi
Keyword(s):  
Age Groups ◽  
The Body ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Morphometric Characteristics ◽  
Morphometric Characters ◽  
Mean Values ◽  
Marsh Frog ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Size At Age ◽  
Linear Body

Abstract We study size-at-age and sexual variability of morphometric characteristics of the marsh frog. According to the size of the body, males were divided into three size-age groups (juvenis, subadultus, adultus), females — into four groups (juvenis, subadultus, adultus, adultus-I). We found that the chronological age of frogs (skeletochronology) does not always correspond to their biological age (size and proportions of the body). We noted that the semi-adult males are reliably larger than females by mean values of 26 studied morphometric characters. Males and females of “adultus” group do not differ by linear body size, significant differences were found in body proportions (7 characters). For the females of “adultus-I” group, the mean values of 26 characters are significantly larger than for “adultus” males. The results of our study showed that with the age of the marsh frog, the level of exhibition, directionality and structure of morphometric sex differences changes.

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