Data from: Ecology of fear alters behaviour of grizzly bears exposed to bear-viewing ecotourism
Data files
Apr 11, 2024 version files 75.85 MB
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README.md
7.65 KB
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Short_et_al_Data1.csv
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Short_et_al_Data2.csv
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Short_et_al_Data3.csv
72.62 MB
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Short_et_al_Data4.csv
899.12 KB
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Short_et_al_Data5.csv
881.49 KB
Abstract
Humans are perceived as predators by many species and may generate landscapes of fear, influencing the spatiotemporal activity of wildlife. Additionally, wildlife might seek out human activity when faced with predation risks (human shield hypothesis). We used the Anthropause, a decrease in human activity resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, to test the ecology of fear and human shield hypotheses and quantify the effects of bear-viewing ecotourism on grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) activity. We deployed camera traps in the Khutze watershed in Kitasoo Xai’xais Territory in the absence of humans in 2020 and with experimental treatments of variable human activity when ecotourism resumed in 2021. Daily bear detection rates decreased with more people present and increased with days since people were present. Human activity was also associated with more bear detections at forested sheltered sites, and less at exposed sites, likely due to the influence of habitat on bear perception of safety. The number of people negatively influenced adult male detection rates, but we found no influence on females with young detections, providing no evidence that females responded behaviourally to a human shield effect from reduced male activity. We also observed apparent trade-offs of risk avoidance and foraging. When salmon levels were moderate to high, detected bears were more likely to be females with young than adult males on days with more people present. Should managers want to minimize human impacts on bear activity and maintain baseline age-sex class composition at ecotourism sites, multi-day closures and daily occupancy limits may be effective. More broadly, this work revealed that antipredator responses can vary with the intensity of risk cues, habitat structure, and forage trade-offs, as well as manifest as the altered age-sex class composition of individuals using human-influenced areas, highlighting that wildlife avoids people across multiple spatiotemporal scales.
README: Data from: Ecology of fear alters behaviour of grizzly bears exposed to bear-viewing ecotourism
This dataset included the data and R code used in the analyses for the article "Ecology of fear alters behaviour of grizzly bears exposed to bear-viewing ecotourism"
Description of the Data and file structure
For the full definitions of all variables and their structure please see Table 1 and Appendix 1: Table S2.
Please ignore any empty cells in the datasets, as they will be coded as N/A once they are read into R.
- Short_et_al_Data1.csv is the input data file for the detection rate model (Short_SupplementaryCode1.R) and activity pattern analysis (Short_SupplementaryCode3.R)
- Short_et_al_Data2.csv is the input data file for the age-sex class multinomial model (Short_SupplementaryCode2.R)
- Short_et_al_Data3.csv is an input data file for the activity pattern analysis (Short_SupplementaryCode3.R)
- Short_et_al_Data4.csv and Short_et_al_Data5.csv are the input data files for the detection rate model for different age-sex classes (Short_SupplementaryCode4.R)
Variable Definitions:
Variables in Short_et_al_Data1.csv, Short_et_al_Data4.csv, and Short_et_al_Data5.csv
- Date : Date of grizzly bear detections
- Deployment.Location.ID : Remote camera identifier
- Detections : Number of independent grizzly bear detections on that date at that camera
- Treatment : Whether the watershed was open or closed to tourism (see Table 1 and Methods for more details)
- Week : Week of the year
- SalmonBiomass : Salmon biomass estimate for a given day, centered and scaled (see Table 1 and Methods for more details)
- WaterLevel : Water level of the river in relation to grizzly bear fishing ability (see Table 1 and Appendix 1: Table S4 for more details)
- PeoplePrevious : Whether people were present in Khutze the day previous
- PeoplePresent : Whether people were present or absent in Khutze on a given day
- People : Number of people who visited Khutze on a given day, centered and scaled
- Vessels : Number of vessels that visited Khutze on a given day, centered and scaled
- Tours : Number of tours that visited Khutze on a given day, centered and scaled
- DistanceToTour : The closest that a tour got to that camera on that given day, centered and scaled (for more details see Table 1 and Appendix 1 Figure S1)
- Year : Year
- YearClosures: Whether Khutze was open or closed to tourism based on the year
- DaysSincePeople: The number of days since people visited Khutze, centered and scaled (for more details see Table 1)
- tourLength : The number of hours in a day with people present in Khutze, centered and scaled (see Table 1 for more details)
- Exposure : Whether the camera site was in a Sheltered (forested) or Open (estuary) area of Khutze (see Table 1 and Methods for more details)
Variables in Short_et_al_Data2.csv
- Date : Date of grizzly bear detection
- Deployment.Location.ID : Remote camera identifier
- Date1 : Date of grizzly bear detection
- Time : Time of grizzly bear detection hh:mm:ss
- Species.Common.Name : Common name of species detected on camera
- Minimum.Group.Size : The minimum number of individuals included in the detection event (see Appendix 1 and Methods for more details)
- Sex : Sex of the first grizzly bear in the detection event
- Sex2 : Sex of the second grizzly bear in the detection event, if applicable
- Age : Age class of the grizzly bear(s) in the detection event
- Date_Time.Captured : The date and time of the grizzly bear detection
- DarkPoint : The average time of the darkest point of the night during the study period
- TimeDiff : The difference between the time of detection and the dark point (see Appendix 1: Table S2 for more details)
- Year : Year of detection
- Treatment : Whether the watershed was open or closed to tourism (see Table 1 and Methods for more details)
- Week : Week of the year
- SalmonBiomass : Salmon biomass estimate for a given day, centered and scaled (see Table 1 and Methods for more details)
- WaterLevel : Water level of the river in relation to grizzly bear fishing ability (see Table 1 and Appendix 1: Table S4 for more details)
- PeoplePrevious : Whether people were present in Khutze the day previous
- PeoplePresent : Whether people were present or absent in Khutze on a given day
- People : Number of people who visited Khutze on a given day, centered and scaled
- Vessels : Number of vessels that visited Khutze on a given day, centered and scaled
- Tours : Number of tours that visited Khutze on a given day, centered and scaled
- DistanceToTour : The closest that a tour got to that camera on that given day, centered and scaled (for more details see Table 1 and Appendix 1 Figure S1)
- YearClosures: Whether Khutze was open or closed to tourism based on the year
- DaysSincePeople: The number of days since people visited Khutze, centered and scaled (for more details see Table 1)
- tourLength : The number of hours in a day with people present in Khutze, centered and scaled (see Table 1 for more details)
- AgeSex : The age-sex class of the bear in the detection
- Exposure : Whether the camera site was in a Sheltered (forested) or Open (estuary) area of Khutze (see Table 1 and Methods for more details)
Variables in Short_et_al_Data3.csv
- Project.ID : Location of the study
- Deployment.Location.ID : Remote camera identifier
- Image.ID: Image identifier
- Date : Date of grizzly bear detection
- Time : Time of grizzly bear detection hh:mm:ss
- Image.Quality : Whether the image quality is sufficient to identify species
- Set_up : Whether the images were taken during the setup of the camera
- Take_down : Whether the images were taken during the removal of the camera
- Camera_check : Whether the images were taken during a mid-season camera check
- Class : Class of species detected
- Order : Order of species detected
- Family : Family of species detected
- Genus : Genus of species detected
- Species : Species detected
- Species.Common.Name : Common name of the species detected
- Number.of.Animals : Number of individuals in that given image
- Minimum.Group.Size : Number of individuals in the detection event
- Adult_count : Number of adult bears in the detection event
- Subadult_count : Number of sub-adult bears in the detection event
- Yearling_count : Number of yearling bears in the detection event
- COY_count : Number of cubs of the year in the detection event
- Sex : Sex of the first bear in the detection event
- Sex2 : Sex of the second bear in the detection event, if applicable
- Sex3 : Sex of the third bear in the detection event, if applicable
- Start_of_series : Whether the image is the first in a detection event
- End_of_series : Whether the image is the last in a detection event
- Time_start_of_series : The time that the detection event started
- Time_end_of_series : The time that the detection event ended
- Fish_interaction : Whether the bear was fishing
- Foraging : Whether the bear was foraging
- Spirit_bear : Number of spirit bears in the detection event
- Needs_review : Whether the image needed additional review
- Comments : Comments
- Reference_quality : Whether the image is high enough quality to use in presentations
- Aware_of_camera : Whether the animal showed awareness of the camera
- Blank : If the image was blank
- Age : Age of grizzly bear in detection event
- Date_Time.Captured : The date and time of the grizzly bear detection
Methods
Data were collected through an array of 40 remote cameras in the Khutze watershed in Kitasoo Xai'xais Territory to assess how ecotourism in the form of bear viewing might influence grizzly bear activity. This was assessed through multiple modelling techniques, including an overall bear detection rate model, individual detection rate models for different age-sex classes of bears, a multinomial model to further assess age-sex class differences, and an activity pattern analysis to assess temporal shifts in grizzly bear activity.
We used data from 2020 when ecotourism was closed in Khutze, as well as 2021 when ecotourism returned. For the full methods, please see the open access paper, Short et al., 2024 "Ecology of fear alters behaviour of grizzly bears exposed to bear-viewing ecotourism".