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5 December 2017 Influence of Food Availability on Matrilineal Site Fidelity of Female Asian Black Bears
Chinatsu Kozakai, Yui Nemoto, Ami Nakajima, Shinsuke Koike, Naoki Ohnishi, Koji Yamazaki
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Abstract

To describe the maintenance process of matrilineal site fidelity in large, solitary mammals, we investigated both the site fidelity over time and the effect of kinship on the space use at a fine (home range) scale under different levels of food availability. We collected location data for female Asian black bears, Ursus thibetanus, using GPS collars and identified microsatellite DNA markers from bears in the Ashio-Nikko Mountains, Japan. We investigated autumn food resources by assessing hard mast productivity. We found high site fidelity over the years from the denning to summer season, and there was spatial proximity among related females (i.e., mother—daughter, grandmother—granddaughter, and sister—sister pairs) from spring to summer and through mid-autumn in moderate/good hard mast years. In autumns of poor hard mast years, although females used sites far from their primary home ranges, they returned to sites near their primary range before den entry. In habitats, where good denning habitat is spatially close to the spring and summer range, maternal communities may range throughout the area during the denning, spring, and summer seasons. When matrilineal site fidelity was suspended during poor mast years, it was reformed by the end of autumn.

© The Mammal Society of Japan
Chinatsu Kozakai, Yui Nemoto, Ami Nakajima, Shinsuke Koike, Naoki Ohnishi, and Koji Yamazaki "Influence of Food Availability on Matrilineal Site Fidelity of Female Asian Black Bears," Mammal Study 42(4), 219-230, (5 December 2017). https://doi.org/10.3106/041.042.0404
Received: 22 February 2017; Accepted: 18 August 2017; Published: 5 December 2017
KEYWORDS
female philopatry
hard mast
solitary mammal
Ursus thibetanus
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