Rubbing behavior of European brown bears: factors affecting rub tree selectivity and density
| Autor: | Ana Morales-González, Dan E. Chamberlain, Giulia Bombieri, Carlotta Bagnasco, David Cañedo, Enrique González-Bernardo, Cindy Lamamy, Héctor Ruiz-Villar, Alejandra Zarzo-Arias, Juan García Díaz, Vincenzo Penteriani, Andrés Ordiz |
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| Přispěvatelé: | Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (España), Principado de Asturias |
| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
Range (biology) Population 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences Population density Rubbing behavior Intraspecific competition Chemical communication Rub trees Tree selectivity Ursus arctos Abundance (ecology) Genetics Ursus education Ecology Evolution Behavior and Systematics Nature and Landscape Conservation education.field_of_study Ecology biology AcademicSubjects/SCI01396 biology.organism_classification Feature Articles 010601 ecology Deciduous Geography Animal Science and Zoology Mammal |
| Zdroj: | Digital.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC instname Journal of Mammalogy |
| Popis: | Scent-mediated communication is considered the principal communication channel in many mammal species. Compared with visual and vocal communication, odors persist for a longer time, enabling individuals to interact without being in the same place at the same time. The brown bear (Ursus arctos), like other mammals, carries out chemical communication, for example, by means of scents deposited on marking (or rub) trees. In this study, we assessed rub tree selectivity of the brown bear in the predominantly deciduous forests of the Cantabrian Mountains (NW Spain). We first compared the characteristics of 101 brown bear rub trees with 263 control trees. We then analyzed the potential factors affecting the density of rub trees along 35 survey routes along footpaths. We hypothesized that: (1) bears would select particular trees, or tree species, with characteristics that make them more conspicuous; and (2) that bears would select trees located in areas with the highest presence of conspecifics, depending on the population density or the position of the trees within the species’ range. We used linear models and generalized additive models to test these hypotheses. Our results showed that brown bears generally selected more conspicuous trees with a preference for birches (Betula spp.). This choice may facilitate the marking and/or detection of chemical signals and, therefore, the effectiveness of intraspecific communication. Conversely, the abundance of rub trees along footpaths did not seem to depend on the density of bear observations or their relative position within the population center or its border. Our results suggest that Cantabrian brown bears select trees based on their individual characteristics and their location, with no influence of characteristics of the bear population itself. Our findings can be used to locate target trees that could help in population monitoring. During this research, EG-B was financially supported by a FPU grant (FPU15-03429) of the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities. VP and AO were financially supported by the Excellence Project CGL2017-82782-P financed by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities, the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI), and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER, EU). VP also was financially supported by a GRUPIN research grant from the Regional Government of Asturias (Ref.: IDI/2018/000151). GB was financially supported by a collaboration contract with the MUSE – Museo delle Scienze of Trento (Italy). We acknowledge support of the publication fee by the CSIC Open Access Publication Support Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI). |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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