A Hypothetico-Deductive Approach to Assessing the Social Function of Chemical Signalling in a Non-Territorial Solitary Carnivore
The function of chemical signalling in non-territorial solitary carnivores is still relatively unclear. Studies on territorial solitary and social carnivores have highlighted odour capability and utility, however the social function of chemical signalling in wild carnivore populations operating domi...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:3329431 2023-05-15T18:42:10+02:00 A Hypothetico-Deductive Approach to Assessing the Social Function of Chemical Signalling in a Non-Territorial Solitary Carnivore Clapham, Melanie Nevin, Owen T. Ramsey, Andrew D. Rosell, Frank 2012-04-18 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3329431 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22530018 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0035404 en eng Public Library of Science http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3329431 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22530018 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0035404 Clapham et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. CC-BY Research Article Text 2012 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0035404 2013-09-04T05:48:18Z The function of chemical signalling in non-territorial solitary carnivores is still relatively unclear. Studies on territorial solitary and social carnivores have highlighted odour capability and utility, however the social function of chemical signalling in wild carnivore populations operating dominance hierarchy social systems has received little attention. We monitored scent marking and investigatory behaviour of wild brown bears Ursus arctos, to test multiple hypotheses relating to the social function of chemical signalling. Camera traps were stationed facing bear ‘marking trees’ to document behaviour by different age sex classes in different seasons. We found evidence to support the hypothesis that adult males utilise chemical signalling to communicate dominance to other males throughout the non-denning period. Adult females did not appear to utilise marking trees to advertise oestrous state during the breeding season. The function of marking by subadult bears is somewhat unclear, but may be related to the behaviour of adult males. Subadults investigated trees more often than they scent marked during the breeding season, which could be a result of an increased risk from adult males. Females with young showed an increase in marking and investigation of trees outside of the breeding season. We propose the hypothesis that females engage their dependent young with marking trees from a young age, at a relatively ‘safe’ time of year. Memory, experience, and learning at a young age, may all contribute towards odour capabilities in adult bears. Text Ursus arctos PubMed Central (PMC) PLoS ONE 7 4 e35404 |
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Research Article Clapham, Melanie Nevin, Owen T. Ramsey, Andrew D. Rosell, Frank A Hypothetico-Deductive Approach to Assessing the Social Function of Chemical Signalling in a Non-Territorial Solitary Carnivore |
topic_facet |
Research Article |
description |
The function of chemical signalling in non-territorial solitary carnivores is still relatively unclear. Studies on territorial solitary and social carnivores have highlighted odour capability and utility, however the social function of chemical signalling in wild carnivore populations operating dominance hierarchy social systems has received little attention. We monitored scent marking and investigatory behaviour of wild brown bears Ursus arctos, to test multiple hypotheses relating to the social function of chemical signalling. Camera traps were stationed facing bear ‘marking trees’ to document behaviour by different age sex classes in different seasons. We found evidence to support the hypothesis that adult males utilise chemical signalling to communicate dominance to other males throughout the non-denning period. Adult females did not appear to utilise marking trees to advertise oestrous state during the breeding season. The function of marking by subadult bears is somewhat unclear, but may be related to the behaviour of adult males. Subadults investigated trees more often than they scent marked during the breeding season, which could be a result of an increased risk from adult males. Females with young showed an increase in marking and investigation of trees outside of the breeding season. We propose the hypothesis that females engage their dependent young with marking trees from a young age, at a relatively ‘safe’ time of year. Memory, experience, and learning at a young age, may all contribute towards odour capabilities in adult bears. |
format |
Text |
author |
Clapham, Melanie Nevin, Owen T. Ramsey, Andrew D. Rosell, Frank |
author_facet |
Clapham, Melanie Nevin, Owen T. Ramsey, Andrew D. Rosell, Frank |
author_sort |
Clapham, Melanie |
title |
A Hypothetico-Deductive Approach to Assessing the Social Function of Chemical Signalling in a Non-Territorial Solitary Carnivore |
title_short |
A Hypothetico-Deductive Approach to Assessing the Social Function of Chemical Signalling in a Non-Territorial Solitary Carnivore |
title_full |
A Hypothetico-Deductive Approach to Assessing the Social Function of Chemical Signalling in a Non-Territorial Solitary Carnivore |
title_fullStr |
A Hypothetico-Deductive Approach to Assessing the Social Function of Chemical Signalling in a Non-Territorial Solitary Carnivore |
title_full_unstemmed |
A Hypothetico-Deductive Approach to Assessing the Social Function of Chemical Signalling in a Non-Territorial Solitary Carnivore |
title_sort |
hypothetico-deductive approach to assessing the social function of chemical signalling in a non-territorial solitary carnivore |
publisher |
Public Library of Science |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3329431 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22530018 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0035404 |
genre |
Ursus arctos |
genre_facet |
Ursus arctos |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3329431 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22530018 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0035404 |
op_rights |
Clapham et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0035404 |
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PLoS ONE |
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7 |
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4 |
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e35404 |
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