Andean bears (Tremarctos ornatus) display selective behaviors while foraging bromeliads (Puya spp.) in high elevation puna grasslands.

Andean bears (Tremarctos ornatus) forage extensively on bromeliads (Puya spp.) across their range, although their selectivity for bromeliads is less understood. We report on foraging activity by Andean bears on two species of bromeliad, Puya leptostachya and Puya membranacea, in high elevation puna grasslands (3499-3806 m.

Assessing the risk of climate maladaptation for Canadian polar bears.

The Arctic is warming four times faster than the rest of the world, threatening the persistence of many Arctic species. It is uncertain if Arctic wildlife will have sufficient time to adapt to such rapidly warming environments. We used genetic forecasting to measure the risk of maladaptation to warming temperatures and sea ice loss in polar bears (Ursus maritimus) sampled across the Canadian Arctic.

Adoption by olive baboons () of newly constructed electricity pylons as sleeping sites in Laikipia, Kenya.

Olive baboons () use fixed, secure, and naturally occurring sleeping sites such as tall trees and rocky cliffs, as protection from predators and often show a selection preference for particular trees or rocky cliff faces. We documented olive baboons' adoption of recently constructed high-tension electrical transmission towers (pylons) as a novel type of sleeping site in Laikipia, Kenya. The use of pylons suggests that the greatest potential benefits may include reduced parasite exposure and predation avoidance.

Survival improvements of marine mammals in zoological institutions mirror historical advances in human longevity.

An intense public debate has fuelled governmental bans on marine mammals held in zoological institutions. The debate rests on the assumption that survival in zoological institutions has been and remains lower than in the wild, albeit the scientific evidence in support of this notion is equivocal. Here, we used statistical methods previously applied to assess historical improvements in human lifespan and data on 8864 individuals of four marine mammal species (harbour seal, ; California sea lion, ; polar bear, ; common bottlenose dolphin, ) held in zoos from 1829 to 2020.

Energy-based step selection analysis: Modelling the energetic drivers of animal movement and habitat use.

The energetic gains from foraging and costs of movement are expected to be key drivers of animal decision-making, as their balance is a large determinant of body condition and survival. This fundamental perspective is often missing from habitat selection studies, which mainly describe correlations between space use and environmental features, rather than the mechanisms behind these correlations. To address this gap, we present a novel parameterisation of step selection functions (SSFs), that we term the energy selection function (ESF).

Predicting range shifts of Ball. under future climate change.

Understanding and predicting how species will respond to climate change is crucial for biodiversity conservation. Here, we assessed future climate change impacts on the distribution of a rare and endangered plant species, in China, using the most recent global circulation models developed in the sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC6). We assessed the potential range shifts in this species by using an ensemble of species distribution models (SDMs).

Long-term increases in pathogen seroprevalence in polar bears (Ursus maritimus) influenced by climate change.

The influence of climate change on wildlife disease dynamics is a burgeoning conservation and human health issue, but few long-term studies empirically link climate to pathogen prevalence. Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are vulnerable to the negative impacts of sea ice loss as a result of accelerated Arctic warming. While studies have associated changes in polar bear body condition, reproductive output, survival, and abundance to reductions in sea ice, no long-term studies have documented the impact of climate change on pathogen exposure.

-reactive antibodies in Canadian polar bears.

is a promiscuous bacterium that infects a variety of species but has not been reported in free-ranging polar bears . Sera from 385 polar bears from the western Hudson Bay region, 1986 to 2017, were tested for reactivity to with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays using anti-canine IgG and protein G as secondary reagents. Sera from bears had variable reactivity to antigens, and there was no difference among bears that had a history of coming near the town of Churchill, Manitoba, and bears that did not.

Camera settings and biome influence the accuracy of citizen science approaches to camera trap image classification.

Scientists are increasingly using volunteer efforts of citizen scientists to classify images captured by motion-activated trail cameras. The rising popularity of citizen science reflects its potential to engage the public in conservation science and accelerate processing of the large volume of images generated by trail cameras. While image classification accuracy by citizen scientists can vary across species, the influence of other factors on accuracy is poorly understood.

Assessing the Effectiveness of China's Panda Protection System.

Protected areas form the backbone of biodiversity conservation, yet their effectiveness is often not known nor even evaluated [1-3]. China-best known for its record of ecological degradation in the face of rapidly increasing gross domestic product and resource consumption [4]-has in recent years enacted a series of policies and programs to conserve its natural resources. Chief among them is an ambitious protected area system covering 17% of its terrestrial land mass [4, 5].

Spring fasting behavior in a marine apex predator provides an index of ecosystem productivity.

The effects of declining Arctic sea ice on local ecosystem productivity are not well understood but have been shown to vary inter-specifically, spatially, and temporally. Because marine mammals occupy upper trophic levels in Arctic food webs, they may be useful indicators for understanding variation in ecosystem productivity. Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are apex predators that primarily consume benthic and pelagic-feeding ice-associated seals.

Mass Loss Rates of Fasting Polar Bears.

Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) have adapted to an annual cyclic regime of feeding and fasting, which is extreme in seasonal sea ice regions of the Arctic. As a consequence of climate change, sea ice breakup has become earlier and the duration of the open-water period through which polar bears must rely on fat reserves has increased. To date, there is limited empirical data with which to evaluate the potential energetic capacity of polar bears to withstand longer fasts.

Age and sex composition of seals killed by polar bears in the eastern Beaufort Sea.

Background: Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) of the Beaufort Sea enter hyperphagia in spring and gain fat reserves to survive periods of low prey availability. We collected information on seals killed by polar bears (n=650) and hunting attempts on ringed seal (Pusa hispida) lairs (n=1396) observed from a helicopter during polar bear mark-recapture studies in the eastern Beaufort Sea in spring in 1985-2011. We investigated how temporal shifts in ringed seal reproduction affect kill composition and the intraspecific vulnerabilities of ringed seals to polar bear predation.