Season‐specific habitat restriction in Asiatic black bears, Japan

Abstract

Understanding habitat selection by wildlife, particularly in the vicinity of areas dominated by humans, is often important in identifying causes of human-wildlife conflict. With recent increases in the number of Asiatic black bears (Ursus thibetanus) in areas near settlements in Japan, there have been more human-bear conflicts. Because of the seasonal nature of these conflicts, we hypothesized that a seasonspecific restriction in habitat may influence bears to select human-settled areas. To confirm this, we focused on the estimate of seasonal differences in distributions of potential bear habitat. We collected global positioning system data from 14 female and 15 male bears in a 1,023-km 2 range located in the central Alps of Japan. We employed resource selection functions to model season-specific habitat selection and quantified the spatial distribution of core habitat patches. Compared with other seasons, selected habitat of bears during summer was restricted to the narrow fringes of human-dominated lands. Selection for younger forests, edges, and lowland red pine (Pinus densiflora) forests supporting diverse food resources indicated that Asiatic black bears were seasonally dependent on early successional stages. In summer when human-bear conflicts peaked, bear avoidance of plantations and the selection for remnant small forest openings and lowland forest combined was the major cause affecting bear proximity to settlements. We recommend that wildlife managers work to restore food-producing habitat in dense, mature plantations to reduce negative interactions between humans and bears. Ó

Effects of planted tree species on biodiversity of conifer plantations in Japan: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…There are several potential explanations for this finding. First, pine family plantations generally have sparser canopies and allow more light to reach the forest floor, supporting more abundant understorey than those of cypress family plantations (general light availability: cedar/cypress/fir < larch < red pine; Maebashi Forestry Office 1997; Yamaura et al 2008;Takahata et al 2017;Forestry Agency 2019). Secondly, the relative abundance of canopy broad-leaved tree species is also generally higher within plantations of pine family, including fir and Sakhalin spruce Picea glehnii that have darker forest floor (Yamaura et al 2019).…”

Landscape heterogeneity in landform and land use provides functional resistance to gene flow in continuous Asian black bear populations

“…Natal philopatry in female‐ and male‐biased dispersal have been suggested (Ohnishi & Osawa, ), and matrilineal site fidelity has also been detected in black bears (Kozakai et al, ). Additionally, a recent behavioral study also suggested that female tended to avoid farmland more than male (Takahata, Takii, & Izumiyama, ). An interesting point in this regard is that special matrix and wetland appear to show resistance to females, even though a partial Mantel test did not support the resistance of land use.…”

“…The capacity of long‐distance dispersal and larger home ranges would enable males to circumvent these particular landscape types. Moreover, the difference in habitat preference would also cause these results because it is suggested that males select open area during summer but females avoid it during all seasons (Takahata et al, ).…”

“…Furthermore, difference in habitat selection between sexes in each season would tend to cause lower IBD and IBR. For example, females select subalpine forests during spring and deciduous forests during summer, but males do not prefer to them during both seasons (Takahata et al, ). Accordingly, we propose that these male–male and female–male relationships should be studied combined with behavioral investigations.…”

Comparing information derived on food habits of a terrestrial carnivore between animal-borne video systems and fecal analyses methods

“…DNA analysis of fecal contents may reveal individual differences in specific food items, although this has not yet been done for Asian black bears. Furthermore, differences in habitat selection and behavioral attributes are known to exist among individuals (e.g., Takahata et al 2017 ). Perhaps there is a close relationship between individual differences in diet and individual differences in behavior, but the causal aspect of this relationship is unknown.…”