The archaeological site of Payre (South-eastern France) has yielded a remarkable Early Middle Palaeolithic sequence with mixed occupations of Neanderthal and large carnivore occupations ranging from ...MIS 8 to 6. Recent discoveries during the reassessment of collections brought to light at least a dozen cave (Ursus spelaeus) and brown bear (Ursus arctos) remains bearing cut marks, indicating the in situ carcass processing (skinning, evisceration, dismembering, defleshing) of these large carnivores by early Neanderthals. This is just one of an increasing number of such examples throughout Europe, highlighting once again the diversity of food and non-food resources exploited by these hominins. Furthermore, so far, these discoveries are the sole evidence of large carnivore exploitation by Neanderthal in the western part of the middle Rhône basin, where Palaeolithic sites and Pleistocene bone accumulations are abundant. These new discoveries are put into context with the other known occurrences in Europe.
•Large carnivores exploitation played a part in the dietary and cultural behavior of early Neanderthal populations.•Several species of Ursids have been exploited.•Early Neanderthals took advantage of a wide range of resources from these animals.•These practices occurred occasionally on a wide time span covering the Middle Palaeolithic.•Large carnivores exploitation is a Europe-wide phenomenon.
Knowing the reproductive characteristics of a species is essential for the appropriate conservation and management of wildlife. In this study, we investigated the demographic parameters, including ...age of primiparity, litter size, inter-birth interval, reproductive rate, and cub survival rate, of Hokkaido brown bears (Ursus arctos yesoensis) in the Rusha area on the Shiretoko Peninsula, Hokkaido, Japan, based on a long-term, individual-based monitoring survey. A total of 15 philopatric females were observed nearly every year from 2006 to 2016, and these observations were used to estimate reproductive parameters. The mean age of primiparity was 5.3 ± 0.2 (SE) years (n = 7, 95% CI = 5.0-5.6). We observed 81 cubs in 46 litters from 15 bears. Litter size ranged from one to three cubs, and averaged 1.76 ± 0.08 (SE) cubs/litter (95% CI = 1.61-1.91). Inter-birth intervals ranged from 1 to 4 years, and the mean value was estimated as 2.43 (95% CI = 2.16-2.76) and 2.53 (95% CI = 2.26-2.85) years in all litters and in litters that survived at least their first year, respectively. The reproductive rate was estimated from 0.70 to 0.76 young born/year/reproductive adult female, depending on the method of calculation. The cub survival rate between 0.5 and 1.5 years ranged from 60 to 73%. Most cub disappearances occurred in July and August, suggesting that cub mortality is mainly due to poor nutrition in the summer. All reproductive parameters observed in the Rusha area on the Shiretoko Peninsula fell within the range reported in Europe and North America, and were among the lowest or shortest age of primiparity, litter size, and inter-birth intervals, and ranked at a high level for reproductive rate.
Latterly the community systems are influenced by disruptive scenarios, in practical terms various factors impacting on the effective running of social processes. Among the actors present in the life ...cycle of the community processes are enlisted the subjects, with roles in the protection and governance of critical infrastructures. Organizations covering these roles have to act accordingly, gathering information on the background, not only to prevent and mitigate the occurrence of risks, contemporarily to govern the operative behavior of their systems. The information collected can be managed in various modalities, using traditional databases or innovative technologies, like blockchain. Present study puts together some considerations identified in other working papers and practical aspects encountered in the management of information to discuss on requirements and proposals. Furthermore contains a high level assessment among the two existing options for particular critical infrastructures in the administration of the information, traditional databases and blockchain.
Scavenging, an underappreciated mechanism of prey consumption for many predators, can contribute substantially to nutritional intake. Facultative scavengers such as brown bears (Ursus arctos ...Linnaeus, 1758) may both kill and scavenge Pacific salmon (genus Oncorhynchus Suckley, 1861), though the extent of scavenging and factors affecting this behavior are unclear. We tagged 899 sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka (Walbaum in Artedi, 1792)) carcasses and placed them on streambanks over 5 years at multiple sites in southwestern Alaska (USA) where brown bears annually prey on spawning sockeye salmon. Examination of carcasses revealed overall scavenging rates of 15% after 1 day and 54% after 3 days. Scavenging rate varied by site and year and increased throughout the salmon run. Contrary to predictions, scavenging was more frequent in senescent or bear-killed carcasses than ripe carcasses. Carcass consumption ranged from minimal to almost complete; body and brain tissues were most frequently consumed after 3 days (68% and 63% of carcasses, respectively). We also documented secondary scavenging (i.e., tissue consumption on two separate events) and delayed scavenging (i.e., scavenging observed after 3 days but not 1 day). Taken together, the results indicated that scavenging in these streams contributes significantly to total consumption of salmon by bears, with ramifications for other components of these salmon-dependent ecosystems.
•Grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) habitat and forest harvest frequently overlap.•Grizzly bear cut block selection is variable across seasons and ecoregions.•Cut block use is frequent when forage is ...present, human activity is low, and natural openings are limited.•Seven ecological factors influence grizzly bear behavioural response to cut blocks.•We identify current knowledge gaps and available management recommendations.
Active forest management for timber production, through the harvesting of forest stands using cut blocks, frequently overlaps grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) habitat on multi-use landscapes in North America, making it critical to understand how forest harvest management can effectively support grizzly bear conservation efforts. While many localised studies have investigated the relationships between forest harvest and grizzly bear habitat use, a synthesis of our current understanding of these complex interactions is warranted. We reviewed publications that empirically assessed grizzly bear use of recently harvested forest stands (<40 years since harvest). We found that all studies reported grizzly bear use of forest cut blocks, with several reporting grizzly bear selection of forest cut blocks, however with substantial variation in selection across seasons and local environment (ecoregions). We distill seven underlying factors that influence grizzly bear responses to forest harvest: natural forest openings, cut block design, silvicultural techniques, age since harvest, grizzly bear food availability, human activity, and grizzly bear sex and age. Our synthesis suggests that grizzly bears may frequently use forestry cut blocks when vegetative forage is present, especially if human activity is minimal and natural forest openings are limited. We highlight current knowledge gaps, summarize recommended management actions, and suggest future research directions for balancing forest harvest activities and grizzly bear conservation.
Human fear of large carnivores can affect human willingness to share the landscape with these species. Also, fear has the potential to influence decision-making processes and the implementation of ...management interventions. People who fear of large carnivores show more opposition to protect these carnivores and are more likely to support killing them. This study was conducted to investigate the factors affecting the fear of local communities toward brown bears in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province. In order to find out the attitude of the local communities towards the bear, a specialized questionnaire was designed and the sample size was estimated at 332, using Cochran's formula. Social network analysis was used to assess the vulnerability of local communities towards brown bears. Based on the results, inadequate knowledge of local communities about bears leads to fear and behavioral changes, when facing this species. Efforts to reduce the human fear of bears should be focused on communication with local people. In order to reduce the conflict between human and bears, it is recommended to increase knowledge and awareness of local communities about the brown bear behavior along with other management measures.
Human‐bear conflicts cause annoyance, financial losses, injuries, and even death to people. In poorer parts of the world, conflicts with bears can affect local economies. Retaliation against bears ...may threaten the future of small, isolated populations. Our survey of the world's bear experts revealed that the problem is worsening in terms of severity of conflicts and their impact on bear conservation on all four continents inhabited by bears. However, the main drivers of conflict, and its manifestations, differ among bear species. We reviewed human‐bear conflict management plans from which we identified 10 categories of mitigating interventions that together comprise a ubiquitous bear conflict management toolbox. Within this toolbox, the peer‐reviewed literature indicates heavy reliance on education and physical barriers for conflict mitigation. In customizing these general approaches to local circumstances, it is important to be mindful of starkly varying geopolitical and social circumstances. There is a pressing need to improve transfer of knowledge from places with active empirical research on mitigation (especially North America), and adapting methodologies to other parts of the world. We saw little evidence of evaluation and adaptive management in the conflict plans. Failure to mitigate conflicts may reduce society's tolerance of bears and diminish conservation efforts.
Humans are responsible for over a quarter of all wildlife mortality events across the globe. The pressure this puts on wildlife populations contributes to the decline of many at-risk species. To ...minimize human-caused mortality and reverse population declines in species across the world, we first need to know where these events are happening or likely to occur since managers and public agencies often have limited resources to devote to a problem. As such, our objective was to develop a modeling approach to delineate human-caused wildlife mortality hotspots in regions with limited data. We used internet search engines and national media to collect data on brown bear (Ursus arctos) mortality events in Iran from 2004 to 2019. We then developed a spatially-explicit Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) model using anthropogenic and environmental variables to predict the probability of human-caused brown bear mortality. We were able to delineate 7000 km2 as human-caused mortality hotspots, along with the geographical locations of those hotspots. This provides information that can help identify where critical conflict mitigation efforts need to be implemented to reduce the potential for human-caused wildlife mortality. However, more targeted studies such as surveys of local people will be needed inside hotspots identified with this methodology to assess the attitudes of humans toward different wildlife species, informing the specific mitigation actions that will need to be made. Finally, we suggest that media data can be used to identify these hotspots in regions where systematic data is lacking.
Species reintroductions involve considerable uncertainty, especially in highly altered landscapes. Historical, geographic, and taxonomic analogies can help reduce this uncertainty by enabling ...conservationists to better assess habitat suitability in proposed reintroduction sites. We illustrate this approach using the example of the California grizzly, an iconic species proposed for reintroduction.
Animals select habitat resources at multiple spatial scales. Thus, explicit attention to scale dependency in species-habitat relationships is critical to understand the habitat suitability patterns ...as perceived by organisms in complex landscapes. Identification of the scales at which particular environmental variables influence habitat selection may be as important as the selection of variables themselves. In this study, we combined bivariate scaling and Maximum entropy (Maxent) modeling to investigate multiscale habitat selection of endangered brown bear (Ursus arctos) populations in northwest Spain. Bivariate scaling showed that the strength of apparent habitat relationships was highly sensitive to the scale at which predictor variables are evaluated. Maxent models on the optimal scale for each variable suggested that landscape composition together with human disturbances was dominant drivers of bear habitat selection, while habitat configuration and edge effects were substantially less influential. We found that explicitly optimizing the scale of habitat suitability models considerably improved single-scale modeling in terms of model performance and spatial prediction. We found that patterns of brown bear habitat suitability represent the cumulative influence of habitat selection across a broad range of scales, from local resources within habitat patches to the landscape composition at broader spatial scales.
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