engleski

Activity patterns of brown bears (Ursus arctos) in Slovenia and Croatia

In most of Europe true wilderness areas do not exist and brown bears (Ursus arctos) generally have to cope with human disturbance and infrastructure. Whereas brown bears seem to be diurnal in a wilderness setting, they seem to change to a nocturnal behaviour in areas with high intensity of human utilization. Understanding what factors influence the activity pattern of individual bears can help to reduce bear-human conflicts. We analysed the activity pattern of 16 individual bears monitored for 3, 372 hours between May and October 1982-1998 in three study areas in Slovenia and Croatia. The data were collected via time sampling and basically analysed with two approaches: a general linear model (GLM) with seasonal component to delineate the most important variables influencing the activity pattern and level and cluster analysis to group bears according to their 24-hour activity pattern. Time of the day and age were the most important variables predicting activity. In general, yearlings were more active during the day, had a less distinct difference between day- and nighttime activity levels and had a higher diel activity level than adult bears. Subadults were somewhat intermediate to adults and yearlings. We conclude that nocturnal behaviour is most likely driven through individual negative experiences with humans, giving space for much individual variation.

activity pattern; brown bear; circadian rhythm; Croatia; disturbance; multi-use landscape; Slovenia; Ursus arctos

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