Modeling female brown bear kill rates on moose calves using global positioning satellite data

摘要: The recent development in Global Positioning System (GPS) techniques has started a new era predation studies. Estimates of kill rates based on animal movements and GPS relocation clusters have proven to be valid several obligatory carnivores. main focus been obtain accurate mean estimates for the management wildlife populations. We present model estimate individual moose calves by adult female brown bears Sweden, spatiotemporal clustering 30,889 bear relocations 71 verified killed during 714 field investigations 2004-2006. In this virtually single-predator single large prey system, omnivorous is an efficient predator up 4 weeks age. top set only included models with cluster radii 30 m or 50 m, indicating very high kill-site fidelity. best radius number periods activity at site as covariate. estimated rate 7.6 � 0.71 (n ¼ 18, xSE) per calving season comparable 6.8 from previous study radio- tracked our area, though lower moose/bear ratio. annual varied 6.1 9.4 bear. ranged 2 15 season, variation hunting skills possibly effort. Predation livestock depredation represent core conflict between humans carnivores rural Scandinavia. Accurate important step quantifying costs reducing human-carnivore conflicts. Our technique may applied exploration mechanisms predator-prey interactions, contribute old global debate problem individuals depredation. 2012 Wildlife Society.