Hunters select for behavioral traits in a large carnivore.

ABSTRACT: Human harvest can induce selection on life history and morphological traits, leading to ecological and evolutionary responses. Our understanding of harvest-induced selection on behavioral traits is, however, very limited. Here, we assessed whether hunters harvest, consciously or not, individuals with specific behavioral traits. We used long-term, detailed behavioral and survival data of a heavily harvested brown bear (Ursus arctos) population in Sweden. We found that hunters harvested male bears that were less active during legal hunting hours and had lower movement rates. Also, hunters harvested male and female bears that used habitats closer to roads. We provide an empirical example that individual behavior can modulate vulnerability to hunting and that hunters could exert a selective pr

SUBMITTER: Leclerc M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6710287 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature