Despotism and Risk of Infanticide Influence Grizzly Bear Den-Site Selection
Given documented social dominance and intraspecific predation in bear populations, the ideal despotic distribution model and sex hypothesis of sexual segregation predict adult female grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) will avoid areas occupied by adult males to reduce risk of infanticide. Under ideal desp...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:3173359 2023-05-15T18:42:14+02:00 Despotism and Risk of Infanticide Influence Grizzly Bear Den-Site Selection Libal, Nathan S. Belant, Jerrold L. Leopold, Bruce D. Wang, Guiming Owen, Patricia A. 2011-09-14 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3173359 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21935378 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0024133 en eng Public Library of Science http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3173359 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21935378 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0024133 This is an open-access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. PDM CC0 Research Article Text 2011 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0024133 2013-09-03T19:48:28Z Given documented social dominance and intraspecific predation in bear populations, the ideal despotic distribution model and sex hypothesis of sexual segregation predict adult female grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) will avoid areas occupied by adult males to reduce risk of infanticide. Under ideal despotic distribution, juveniles should similarly avoid adult males to reduce predation risk. Den-site selection and use is an important component of grizzly bear ecology and may be influenced by multiple factors, including risk from conspecifics. To test the role of predation risk and the sex hypothesis of sexual segregation, we compared adult female (n = 142), adult male (n = 36), and juvenile (n = 35) den locations in Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska, USA. We measured elevation, aspect, slope, and dominant land cover for each den site, and used maximum entropy modeling to determine which variables best predicted den sites. We identified the global model as the best-fitting model for adult female (area under curve (AUC) = 0.926) and elevation as the best predictive variable for adult male (AUC = 0.880) den sites. The model containing land cover and elevation best-predicted juvenile (AUC = 0.841) den sites. Adult females spatially segregated from adult males, with dens characterized by higher elevations ( = 1,412 m, SE = 52) and steeper slopes ( = 21.9°, SE = 1.1) than adult male (elevation: = 1,209 m, SE = 76; slope: = 15.6°, SE = 1.9) den sites. Juveniles used a broad range of landscape attributes but did not avoid adult male denning areas. Observed spatial segregation by adult females supports the sex hypothesis of sexual segregation and we suggest is a mechanism to reduce risk of infanticide. Den site selection of adult males is likely related to distribution of food resources during spring. Text Ursus arctos Alaska PubMed Central (PMC) PLoS ONE 6 9 e24133 |
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Research Article Libal, Nathan S. Belant, Jerrold L. Leopold, Bruce D. Wang, Guiming Owen, Patricia A. Despotism and Risk of Infanticide Influence Grizzly Bear Den-Site Selection |
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Research Article |
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Given documented social dominance and intraspecific predation in bear populations, the ideal despotic distribution model and sex hypothesis of sexual segregation predict adult female grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) will avoid areas occupied by adult males to reduce risk of infanticide. Under ideal despotic distribution, juveniles should similarly avoid adult males to reduce predation risk. Den-site selection and use is an important component of grizzly bear ecology and may be influenced by multiple factors, including risk from conspecifics. To test the role of predation risk and the sex hypothesis of sexual segregation, we compared adult female (n = 142), adult male (n = 36), and juvenile (n = 35) den locations in Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska, USA. We measured elevation, aspect, slope, and dominant land cover for each den site, and used maximum entropy modeling to determine which variables best predicted den sites. We identified the global model as the best-fitting model for adult female (area under curve (AUC) = 0.926) and elevation as the best predictive variable for adult male (AUC = 0.880) den sites. The model containing land cover and elevation best-predicted juvenile (AUC = 0.841) den sites. Adult females spatially segregated from adult males, with dens characterized by higher elevations ( = 1,412 m, SE = 52) and steeper slopes ( = 21.9°, SE = 1.1) than adult male (elevation: = 1,209 m, SE = 76; slope: = 15.6°, SE = 1.9) den sites. Juveniles used a broad range of landscape attributes but did not avoid adult male denning areas. Observed spatial segregation by adult females supports the sex hypothesis of sexual segregation and we suggest is a mechanism to reduce risk of infanticide. Den site selection of adult males is likely related to distribution of food resources during spring. |
format |
Text |
author |
Libal, Nathan S. Belant, Jerrold L. Leopold, Bruce D. Wang, Guiming Owen, Patricia A. |
author_facet |
Libal, Nathan S. Belant, Jerrold L. Leopold, Bruce D. Wang, Guiming Owen, Patricia A. |
author_sort |
Libal, Nathan S. |
title |
Despotism and Risk of Infanticide Influence Grizzly Bear Den-Site Selection |
title_short |
Despotism and Risk of Infanticide Influence Grizzly Bear Den-Site Selection |
title_full |
Despotism and Risk of Infanticide Influence Grizzly Bear Den-Site Selection |
title_fullStr |
Despotism and Risk of Infanticide Influence Grizzly Bear Den-Site Selection |
title_full_unstemmed |
Despotism and Risk of Infanticide Influence Grizzly Bear Den-Site Selection |
title_sort |
despotism and risk of infanticide influence grizzly bear den-site selection |
publisher |
Public Library of Science |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3173359 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21935378 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0024133 |
genre |
Ursus arctos Alaska |
genre_facet |
Ursus arctos Alaska |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3173359 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21935378 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0024133 |
op_rights |
This is an open-access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. |
op_rightsnorm |
PDM CC0 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0024133 |
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PLoS ONE |
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6 |
container_issue |
9 |
container_start_page |
e24133 |
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