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Sociodemographic factors modulate the spatial response of brown bears to vacancies created by hunting

Frank, Shane C.; Leclerc, Martin; Pelletier, Fanie; Rosell, Frank Narve; Swenson, Jon; Bischof, Richard; Kindberg, Jonas; Eiken, Hans Geir; Hagen, Snorre; Zedrosser, Andreas
Journal article, Peer reviewed
Accepted version
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URI
http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2465783
Date
2017
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  • Publikasjoner fra CRIStin - NINA [2539]
  • Scientific publications [1586]
Abstract
1. There is a growing recognition of the importance of indirect effects from hunting on wildlife

populations, e.g., social and behavioral changes due to harvest, which occur after the initial

offtake. Nonetheless, little is known about how the removal of members of a population

influences the spatial configuration of the survivors.

2. We studied how surviving brown bears (Ursus arctos) used former home ranges that had

belonged to casualties of the annual bear hunting season in southcentral Sweden (2007-2015).

We used resource selection functions to explore the effects of the casualty's and survivor's sex,

age, and their pairwise genetic relatedness, population density, and hunting intensity on

survivors' spatial responses to vacated home ranges.

3. We tested the competitive release hypothesis, whereby survivors that increase their use of a

killed bear’s home range are presumed to have been released from intraspecific competition.

We found strong support for this hypothesis, as survivors of the same sex as the casualty

consistently increased their use of its vacant home range. Patterns were less pronounced or

absent when the survivor and casualty were of opposite sex.

4. Genetic relatedness between the survivor and the casualty emerged as the most important

factor explaining increased use of vacated male home ranges by males, with a stronger response

from survivors of lower relatedness. Relatedness was also important for females, but it did not

influence use following removal; female survivors used home ranges of higher related female

casualties more, both before and after death. Spatial responses by survivors were further

influenced by bear age, population density, and hunting intensity.

5. We have showed that survivors exhibit a spatial response to vacated home ranges caused by

hunting casualties, even in non-territorial species such as the brown bear. This spatial

reorganization can have unintended consequences for population dynamics and interfere with

management goals. Altogether, our results underscore the need to better understand the shortand

long-term indirect effects of hunting on animal social structure and their resulting

distribution in space.
Journal
Journal of Animal Ecology

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