Spatial analysis of factors influencing long-term stress in the grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) population of Alberta, Canada.
Non-invasive measures for assessing long-term stress in free ranging mammals are an increasingly important approach for understanding physiological responses to landscape conditions. Using a spatially and temporally expansive dataset of hair cortisol concentrations (HCC) generated from a threatened...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:34f6c4fda0744abab857a57776623246 2023-05-15T18:41:59+02:00 Spatial analysis of factors influencing long-term stress in the grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) population of Alberta, Canada. Mathieu L Bourbonnais Trisalyn A Nelson Marc R L Cattet Chris T Darimont Gordon B Stenhouse 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0083768 https://doaj.org/article/34f6c4fda0744abab857a57776623246 EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3873976?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0083768 https://doaj.org/article/34f6c4fda0744abab857a57776623246 PLoS ONE, Vol 8, Iss 12, p e83768 (2013) Medicine R Science Q article 2013 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0083768 2022-12-31T12:49:44Z Non-invasive measures for assessing long-term stress in free ranging mammals are an increasingly important approach for understanding physiological responses to landscape conditions. Using a spatially and temporally expansive dataset of hair cortisol concentrations (HCC) generated from a threatened grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) population in Alberta, Canada, we quantified how variables representing habitat conditions and anthropogenic disturbance impact long-term stress in grizzly bears. We characterized spatial variability in male and female HCC point data using kernel density estimation and quantified variable influence on spatial patterns of male and female HCC stress surfaces using random forests. Separate models were developed for regions inside and outside of parks and protected areas to account for substantial differences in anthropogenic activity and disturbance within the study area. Variance explained in the random forest models ranged from 55.34% to 74.96% for males and 58.15% to 68.46% for females. Predicted HCC levels were higher for females compared to males. Generally, high spatially continuous female HCC levels were associated with parks and protected areas while low-to-moderate levels were associated with increased anthropogenic disturbance. In contrast, male HCC levels were low in parks and protected areas and low-to-moderate in areas with increased anthropogenic disturbance. Spatial variability in gender-specific HCC levels reveal that the type and intensity of external stressors are not uniform across the landscape and that male and female grizzly bears may be exposed to, or perceive, potential stressors differently. We suggest observed spatial patterns of long-term stress may be the result of the availability and distribution of foods related to disturbance features, potential sexual segregation in available habitat selection, and may not be influenced by sources of mortality which represent acute traumas. In this wildlife system and others, conservation and management efforts can benefit by ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Ursus arctos Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Canada PLoS ONE 8 12 e83768 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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topic |
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Medicine R Science Q Mathieu L Bourbonnais Trisalyn A Nelson Marc R L Cattet Chris T Darimont Gordon B Stenhouse Spatial analysis of factors influencing long-term stress in the grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) population of Alberta, Canada. |
topic_facet |
Medicine R Science Q |
description |
Non-invasive measures for assessing long-term stress in free ranging mammals are an increasingly important approach for understanding physiological responses to landscape conditions. Using a spatially and temporally expansive dataset of hair cortisol concentrations (HCC) generated from a threatened grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) population in Alberta, Canada, we quantified how variables representing habitat conditions and anthropogenic disturbance impact long-term stress in grizzly bears. We characterized spatial variability in male and female HCC point data using kernel density estimation and quantified variable influence on spatial patterns of male and female HCC stress surfaces using random forests. Separate models were developed for regions inside and outside of parks and protected areas to account for substantial differences in anthropogenic activity and disturbance within the study area. Variance explained in the random forest models ranged from 55.34% to 74.96% for males and 58.15% to 68.46% for females. Predicted HCC levels were higher for females compared to males. Generally, high spatially continuous female HCC levels were associated with parks and protected areas while low-to-moderate levels were associated with increased anthropogenic disturbance. In contrast, male HCC levels were low in parks and protected areas and low-to-moderate in areas with increased anthropogenic disturbance. Spatial variability in gender-specific HCC levels reveal that the type and intensity of external stressors are not uniform across the landscape and that male and female grizzly bears may be exposed to, or perceive, potential stressors differently. We suggest observed spatial patterns of long-term stress may be the result of the availability and distribution of foods related to disturbance features, potential sexual segregation in available habitat selection, and may not be influenced by sources of mortality which represent acute traumas. In this wildlife system and others, conservation and management efforts can benefit by ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Mathieu L Bourbonnais Trisalyn A Nelson Marc R L Cattet Chris T Darimont Gordon B Stenhouse |
author_facet |
Mathieu L Bourbonnais Trisalyn A Nelson Marc R L Cattet Chris T Darimont Gordon B Stenhouse |
author_sort |
Mathieu L Bourbonnais |
title |
Spatial analysis of factors influencing long-term stress in the grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) population of Alberta, Canada. |
title_short |
Spatial analysis of factors influencing long-term stress in the grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) population of Alberta, Canada. |
title_full |
Spatial analysis of factors influencing long-term stress in the grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) population of Alberta, Canada. |
title_fullStr |
Spatial analysis of factors influencing long-term stress in the grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) population of Alberta, Canada. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Spatial analysis of factors influencing long-term stress in the grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) population of Alberta, Canada. |
title_sort |
spatial analysis of factors influencing long-term stress in the grizzly bear (ursus arctos) population of alberta, canada. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0083768 https://doaj.org/article/34f6c4fda0744abab857a57776623246 |
geographic |
Canada |
geographic_facet |
Canada |
genre |
Ursus arctos |
genre_facet |
Ursus arctos |
op_source |
PLoS ONE, Vol 8, Iss 12, p e83768 (2013) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3873976?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0083768 https://doaj.org/article/34f6c4fda0744abab857a57776623246 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0083768 |
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PLoS ONE |
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8 |
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12 |
container_start_page |
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