Using a novel method of potential available energy to determine masting condition influence on sex-specific habitat selection by Asiatic black bears

Yoshihiro Umemura; Shinsuke Koike; Chinatsu Kozakai; Koji Yamazaki; Yui Nemoto; Ami Nakajima; Mari Kohri; Shin Abe; Takashi Masaki; Koichi Kaji

doi:10.1515/mammalia-2015-0172

Article

Using a novel method of potential available energy to determine masting condition influence on sex-specific habitat selection by Asiatic black bears

Yoshihiro Umemura , Shinsuke Koike , Chinatsu Kozakai , Koji Yamazaki , Yui Nemoto , Ami Nakajima , Mari Kohri , Shin Abe , Takashi Masaki and Koichi Kaji

Published/Copyright: August 28, 2017

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From the journal Mammalia Volume 82 Issue 3

Abstract

Habitat selection is assumed to accrue fitness benefits. Where resource availability is variable, individuals should respond by changing habitat selection to increase resource availability. However, direct links between observed changes in habitat selection and energetic benefits of this behavior are rarely detected. We used a novel method whereby we converted interannual production levels of three hard-mast-producing Fagaceae species into a comparative energetic productivity score to investigate potential energetic benefits of Asiatic black bear habitat selection. We captured and fitted GPS collars on 19 bears between 2006 and 2010 in the Ashio-Nikko Mountains, Japan. We also collected data on hard-mast production and integrated these data with fine-scale vegetation maps. Then we mapped the potential available mast energetic production for each vegetation type to evaluate their potential energetic benefit for bears. Habitat use differed between poor and good mast years. Bears mostly used Japanese oak in good mast years, and there were sexual differences in September of poor mast years; females used mostly Japanese oak, whereas males used Konara oak. In those years, bears may have benefitted energetically by changing habitat use; however, the mean potential available energy to bears never exceeded that in good mast years, even if they used different habitats.

Keywords: energetics; Fagaceae; habitat selection; mast production; Ursus thibetanus

Acknowledgments

We thank the research personnel of the Asian Black Bear Research Group, especially S. Haneo, H. Yokota and M. Ito, for field assistance. We also thank the Gunma District Forest Office and Nikko District Forest Office of the Forestry Agency for permission to set traps in a forest. We are grateful to the Tochigi Prefectural Imaichi Forest Management Office and Nikko City for granting permission to capture bears. We acknowledge support from and comments on the study by T. Seto. We thank two anonymous referees for their invaluable comments on earlier versions of the manuscript. This work was partly supported by a Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows (Nos. 09J08340, 25241026, 25850103, 16H04932, and 17H00797) and the Pollution Control Research Fund from the Ministry of the Environment, Japan.

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Received: 2015-11-23

Accepted: 2017-7-27

Published Online: 2017-8-28

Published in Print: 2018-4-25

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/mammalia-2015-0172

Keywords for this article

energetics; Fagaceae; habitat selection; mast production; Ursus thibetanus