The seasonal sensitivity of brown bear denning phenology in response to climatic variability.

ABSTRACT:

Background

For brown bears (Ursus arctos), hibernation is a critical part of the annual life cycle because energy savings during hibernation can be crucial for overwintering, and females give birth to cubs at that time. For hibernation to be a useful strategy, timing is critical. However, environmental conditions vary greatly, which might have a negative effect on the functionality of the evolved biological time-keeping. Here, we used a long-term dataset (69 years) on brown bear denning phenology recorded in 12 Russian protected areas and quantified the phenological responses to variation in temperature and snow depth. Previous studies analyzing the relationship between climate and denning behavior did not consider that the brown bear response to variation in climatic factor

SUBMITTER: Delgado MM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6211405 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature