Brown bear (Ursus arctos) den site concealment in relation to human activity in Scandinavia
As a hibernating species, the brown bear spend most of the winter months in a den as a strategy to avoid unfavorable conditions. The denning period is a vulnerable time for bears, making them unable to flee disturbances without losing valuable amounts of energy. Brown bears' wariness of humans and a...
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| Formato: | M2 |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés sueco |
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SLU/Dept. of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies
2009
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| Sumario: | As a hibernating species, the brown bear spend most of the winter months in a den as a
strategy to avoid unfavorable conditions. The denning period is a vulnerable time for bears,
making them unable to flee disturbances without losing valuable amounts of energy. Brown
bears' wariness of humans and avoidance of anthropogenic disturbance often steer denning
bears away from human infrastructure, and bears thereby avoid possible disturbance and its
associated energetic costs. This study was carried out to test the hypothesis that bears
denning closer to infrastructure select more covered den sites to compensate for the close
distance. Dens from 32 individuals were visited and analyzed in terms of sighting distance
(a measurement for den horizontal cover) and habitat ruggedness, in relation to distances to
infrastructure. This study showed that bears tended to have more concealed dens and/or
dens situated in more rugged terrain closer to roads and settlements with the highest human
activity. Expanding human infrastructure might affect bear categories differently, since
younger bears were shown to den closer to human activity areas than older bears. Close
distance to human activity might therefore alter bears’ natural behavior evolved to endure
unfavorable conditions during winter. Undeveloped forest regions are important to decrease
anthropogenic effects on bear denning behavior, and presumably also for the spatial
distribution concerning different bear categories (e.g. age classes).
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