An assessment of food habit of the brown bear in human-bear conflict hotspots in Fars province

Abstract

Introduction: The feeding habits of carnivores is a function of climate condition, food
quality, energy requirements, latitude, season, primary production of habitats, and
biological characteristics of species. In addition, human-induced changes in habitat can
increase the risk of human-wildlife conflict by providing nutritional opportunities.
Therefore, knowledge of carnivores' feeding ecology have an important role in effective
management of human-wildlife conflicts.
Materials & Methods: At the present research, we assessed brown bear summer feeding
ecology in the areas with high risk of conflict using scat analysis. Individual food items
consumed by bears were identified macroscopically by visual examination of their scats. To
adjust for different digestibility of diet items, the frequency of occurrence, relative volume,
food item importance, dietary content, and dietary energy content were calculated by
considering correction factors.
Result: The results showed that cultivated fruits (56.897), herbaceous plants (51.724), and
wild fruit trees (32.759) had the highest frequency of occurrence, respectively. In contrast,
the highest values of dietary content and dietary energy content were obtained for cultivated
fruits (42.904), vertebrates (25.853), and wild fruit trees (21.337), respectively.
Conclusion: The results of the present study showed that anthropogenic food resources
have a significant contribution in the feeding ecology of the species in the areas with high
risk of conflicts and where there is a scarcity of natural food resources. The obtained results
provided critical information for the species conservation management of human-brown
bear conflicts.