Towards understanding bold behaviour of large carnivores: the case of brown bears in human‐modified landscapes

Microsatellite Characterization and Panel Selection for Brown Bear (Ursus arctos) Population Assessment

An assessment of the genetic diversity and structure of a population is essential for designing recovery plans for threatened species. Italy hosts two brown bear populations, Ursus arctos marsicanus (Uam), endemic to the Apennines of central Italy, and Ursus arctos arctos (Uaa), in the Italian Alps. Both populations are endangered and occasionally involved in human-wildlife conflict; thus, detailed management plans have been in place for several decades, including genetic monitoring. Here, we propose a simple cost-effective microsatellite-based protocol for the management of populations with low genetic variation. We sampled 22 Uam and 22 Uaa individuals and analyzed a total of 32 microsatellite loci in order to evaluate their applicability in individual identification. Based on genetic variability estimates, we compared data from four different STR marker sets, to evaluate the optimal settings in long-term monitoring projects. Allelic richness and gene diversity were the highest for the Uaa population, whereas depleted genetic variability was noted for the Uam population, which should be regarded as a conservation priority. Our results identified the most effective STR sets for the estimation of genetic diversity and individual discrimination in Uam (9 loci, PIC 0.45; PID 2.0 × 10-5), and Uaa (12 loci, PIC 0.64; PID 6.9 × 10-11) populations, which can easily be utilized by smaller laboratories to support local governments in regular population monitoring. The method we proposed to select the most variable markers could be adopted for the genetic characterization of other small and isolated populations.

Transdisciplinary deficit in large carnivore conservation funding in Europe

Achieving coexistence between humans and large carnivores in human-shaped landscapes is a complex challenge. Addressing this challenge requires the revaluation of the approaches academia uses to foster carnivore conservation and human-large carnivore coexistence. In this forum paper, we provide a brief overview of the three archetypical approaches of knowledge generation for large carnivore conservation in human dominated landscapes (disciplinary, interdisciplinary and emerging transdisciplinary approaches) and highlight the need for more explicit consideration of transdisciplinarity in large carnivore conservation funding. We refer to transdisciplinary deficit (TDD) for those situations when the context allows the implementation of transdisciplinarity but research and practice remains disciplinary or interdisciplinary. We identify drivers of this TDD and provide a brief overview of current and past conservation funding programmes at the European level in terms of their capacity to promote transdisciplinary approaches for large carnivore conservation. We show that current funding programmes favour sectorial and disciplinary approaches, resulting in low transdisciplinary substance in large carnivore conservation projects. TDD can be overcome by transforming the character of public funding towards multi-stakeholder collaboration, designing and nurturing effective communities of practice, and reducing co-financing rates for large, integrated projects.

Scavenging vs hunting affects behavioral traits of an opportunistic carnivore

Background

Human-induced changes to ecosystems transform the availability of resources to predators, including altering prey populations and increasing access to anthropogenic foods. Opportunistic predators are likely to respond to altered food resources by changing the proportion of food they hunt versus scavenge. These shifts in foraging behavior will affect species interactions through multiple pathways, including by changing other aspects of predator behavior such as boldness, innovation, and social structure.

Methods

To understand how foraging behavior impacts predator behavior, we conducted a controlled experiment to simulate hunting by introducing a prey model to captive coyotes (Canis latrans) and compared their behavior to coyotes that continued to scavenge over one year. We used focal observations to construct behavioral budgets, and conducted novel object, puzzle box, and conspecific tests to evaluate boldness, innovation, and response to conspecifics.

Results

We documented increased time spent resting by hunting coyotes paired with decreased time spent active. Hunting coyotes increased boldness and persistence but there were no changes in innovation. Our results illustrate how foraging behavior can impact other aspects of behavior, with potential ecological consequences to predator ecology, predator-prey dynamics, and human-wildlife conflict; however, the captive nature of our study limits specific conclusions related to wild predators. We conclude that human-induced behavioral changes could have cascading ecological implications that are not fully understood.