Stable isotope and <scp>DNA</scp> analyses reveal the spatial distribution of crop‐foraging brown bears

• Published in: Journal of Zoology
• Main Authors: Hata, A., Takada, M. B., Nakashita, R., Fukasawa, K., Oshida, T., Ishibashi, Y., Sato, Y.
• Other Authors: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2017
• Subjects: Animal Science and Zoology; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Ursus arctos
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jzo.12479; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fjzo.12479; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/jzo.12479; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/jzo.12479; https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/jzo.12479

Abstract We investigated maize ( Zea mays ) consumption by brown bears ( Ursus arctos ) in a subpopulation of eastern Hokkaido, Japan, using carbon stable isotope analysis of hair samples to better understand the pattern and scale of movement of the bears’ crop‐foraging behavior. We identified a total of 30 individuals (19 males and 11 females) using DNA analysis of the hair samples. Stable isotope analysis suggested that female bears that were more likely to consume maize lived closer to agricultural crop fields. Our statistical model also estimated that the relative maize consumption of female bears decreased rapidly as the distance to crop fields increased to 3–4 km, similar to the radius of the annual home range of female bears. In contrast, male bears that were more likely to consume maize lived both in forested areas and near crop fields. Even if male bears live in a forested area except during the maize harvest period, they appeared to be at risk of being killed by lethal control because they can move from forested areas to crop fields during the maize harvest period. Collecting hair samples of many bears in the population over several years may allow the effect of lethal control on population viability to be estimated non‐invasively.