Effect of season and high ambient temperature on activity levels and patterns of grizzly bears (Ursus arctos).
Understanding factors that influence daily and annual activity patterns of a species provides insights to challenges facing individuals, particularly when climate shifts, and thus is important in conservation. Using GPS collars with dual-axis motion sensors that recorded the number of switches every...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:db170e84e11e495fbf730bbf9dffacaa 2023-05-15T18:41:52+02:00 Effect of season and high ambient temperature on activity levels and patterns of grizzly bears (Ursus arctos). Michelle L McLellan Bruce N McLellan 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0117734 https://doaj.org/article/db170e84e11e495fbf730bbf9dffacaa EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4334910?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0117734 https://doaj.org/article/db170e84e11e495fbf730bbf9dffacaa PLoS ONE, Vol 10, Iss 2, p e0117734 (2015) Medicine R Science Q article 2015 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0117734 2022-12-31T11:56:05Z Understanding factors that influence daily and annual activity patterns of a species provides insights to challenges facing individuals, particularly when climate shifts, and thus is important in conservation. Using GPS collars with dual-axis motion sensors that recorded the number of switches every 5 minutes we tested the hypotheses: 1. Grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) increase daily activity levels and active bout lengths when they forage on berries, the major high-energy food in this ecosystem, and 2. Grizzly bears become less active and more nocturnal when ambient temperature exceeds 20°C. We found support for hypothesis 1 with both male and female bears being active from 0.7 to 2.8 h longer in the berry season than in other seasons. Our prediction under hypothesis 2 was not supported. When bears foraged on berries on a dry, open mountainside, there was no relationship between daily maximum temperature (which varied from 20.4 to 40.1°C) and the total amount of time bears were active, and no difference in activity levels during day or night between warm (20.4-27.3°C) and hot (27.9-40.1°C) days. Our results highlight the strong influence that food acquisition has on activity levels and patterns of grizzly bears and is a challenge to the heat dissipation limitation theory. Article in Journal/Newspaper Ursus arctos Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles PLOS ONE 10 2 e0117734 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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English |
topic |
Medicine R Science Q |
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Medicine R Science Q Michelle L McLellan Bruce N McLellan Effect of season and high ambient temperature on activity levels and patterns of grizzly bears (Ursus arctos). |
topic_facet |
Medicine R Science Q |
description |
Understanding factors that influence daily and annual activity patterns of a species provides insights to challenges facing individuals, particularly when climate shifts, and thus is important in conservation. Using GPS collars with dual-axis motion sensors that recorded the number of switches every 5 minutes we tested the hypotheses: 1. Grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) increase daily activity levels and active bout lengths when they forage on berries, the major high-energy food in this ecosystem, and 2. Grizzly bears become less active and more nocturnal when ambient temperature exceeds 20°C. We found support for hypothesis 1 with both male and female bears being active from 0.7 to 2.8 h longer in the berry season than in other seasons. Our prediction under hypothesis 2 was not supported. When bears foraged on berries on a dry, open mountainside, there was no relationship between daily maximum temperature (which varied from 20.4 to 40.1°C) and the total amount of time bears were active, and no difference in activity levels during day or night between warm (20.4-27.3°C) and hot (27.9-40.1°C) days. Our results highlight the strong influence that food acquisition has on activity levels and patterns of grizzly bears and is a challenge to the heat dissipation limitation theory. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Michelle L McLellan Bruce N McLellan |
author_facet |
Michelle L McLellan Bruce N McLellan |
author_sort |
Michelle L McLellan |
title |
Effect of season and high ambient temperature on activity levels and patterns of grizzly bears (Ursus arctos). |
title_short |
Effect of season and high ambient temperature on activity levels and patterns of grizzly bears (Ursus arctos). |
title_full |
Effect of season and high ambient temperature on activity levels and patterns of grizzly bears (Ursus arctos). |
title_fullStr |
Effect of season and high ambient temperature on activity levels and patterns of grizzly bears (Ursus arctos). |
title_full_unstemmed |
Effect of season and high ambient temperature on activity levels and patterns of grizzly bears (Ursus arctos). |
title_sort |
effect of season and high ambient temperature on activity levels and patterns of grizzly bears (ursus arctos). |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0117734 https://doaj.org/article/db170e84e11e495fbf730bbf9dffacaa |
genre |
Ursus arctos |
genre_facet |
Ursus arctos |
op_source |
PLoS ONE, Vol 10, Iss 2, p e0117734 (2015) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4334910?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0117734 https://doaj.org/article/db170e84e11e495fbf730bbf9dffacaa |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0117734 |
container_title |
PLOS ONE |
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10 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
e0117734 |
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1766231442274123776 |