Behavioral correlates of supplementary feeding of wildlife
Supplementary feeding is a common, but controversial, tool in wildlife management, because it can benefit both humansand wildlife (e.g., increased wildlife densities), but has certain downsides (e.g., increased disease transmission). For speciesthat are often involved in human-wildlife conflicts, tw...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Other/Unknown Material |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
ARCTUROS, Civil Society for the Protection and Management of Wildlife and Natural Environment
2017
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/IzpisGradiva.php?id=96698 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?id=105428&dn= https://plus.si.cobiss.net/opac7/bib/3962790?lang=sl |
| Summary: | Supplementary feeding is a common, but controversial, tool in wildlife management, because it can benefit both humansand wildlife (e.g., increased wildlife densities), but has certain downsides (e.g., increased disease transmission). For speciesthat are often involved in human-wildlife conflicts, two opposing paradigms with respect to supplementary feeding exist, i.e.,(i) that supplementary feeding is efficient to lure animals away from undesired places (i.e., diversionary feeding hypothesis1), and (ii) that supplementary feeding stimulates ‘nuisance’ behavior (i.e., increased tolerance for humans and selection forhuman facilities hypothesis 2). We formulated an alternative hypothesis (hypothesis 3) i.e., that behavioral variation amongindividuals dilutes population-wide, general patterns with respect to supplementary feeding. Based on GPS relocation dataand resource selection functions, we show that neither of the two opposing management paradigms (hypothesis 1 and 2)hold in a particularly ‘conflict rich’ species, the brown bear (Ursus arctos), because individual variation in selection behaviorwith respect to supplementary feeding diluted population-wide patterns (hypothesis 3), even under very different environmentalcontexts (Sweden vs. Slovenia i.e., different human and bear population density, history and intensity of supplementary feeding,topography, etc.). Our results emphasize that individual variation is an important component of behavioral ecology and shouldbe considered in wildlife management and conservation. |
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