Abstract

Most studies of animals' home-range sizes have focused on adults, and the home ranges of subadults are usually, at best, only mentioned anecdotally. In this paper we report home-range sizes of 56 philopatric sexually immature (1.5- and 2.5-year-old) brown bears (Ursus arctos) in 2 Swedish study areas and how size is influenced by sex, age, body size, food availability, and population density. Home-range size was larger in males than in females, and home-range size increased with increasing body size, but was not related to individual age. Home-range size decreased with increasing population density, but less so in females than in males, a result consistent with the formation of matrilinear assemblages recently reported in brown bears. Although home ranges were larger in the less-productive northern study area than in the southern one, home-range size was not related to a general index of food availability

Published in

Journal of Mammalogy
2006, Volume: 87, number: 5, pages: 859-865
Publisher: ALLIANCE COMMUNICATIONS GROUP DIVISION ALLEN PRESS

SLU Authors

• Stoen, Ole-Gunnar

  • Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1644/05-MAMM-A-352R1.1

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/21238