Aversive conditioning increases short-term wariness but does not change habitat use in black bears associated with conflict.
Conflict between humans and black bears (Ursus americanus) occurs throughout North America with increasing public demand to replace lethal management with non-lethal methods, such as aversive conditioning (AC). AC aims to teach animals to associate negative stimuli with humans or their infrastructur...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2024-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0295989&type=printable |
| _version_ | 1797349354886922240 |
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| author | Lori Homstol Sage Raymond Claire Edwards Anthony N Hamilton Colleen Cassady St Clair |
| author_facet | Lori Homstol Sage Raymond Claire Edwards Anthony N Hamilton Colleen Cassady St Clair |
| author_sort | Lori Homstol |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Conflict between humans and black bears (Ursus americanus) occurs throughout North America with increasing public demand to replace lethal management with non-lethal methods, such as aversive conditioning (AC). AC aims to teach animals to associate negative stimuli with humans or their infrastructure. We sought to test the efficacy of AC using radio-collared black bears in Whistler, British Columbia, by monitoring individuals and assigning those in conflict with people to control or treatment groups. We measured wariness using overt reaction distance, displacement distance, and reaction to researchers before, during and after executing 3-5-day AC programs that consisted of launching projectiles at bears in the treatment group. We also assessed predictors of successful AC events (i.e., leaving at a run), changes in bear use of human-dominated habitat during the day and at night, and the effects of including a sound stimulus to signal the beginning and end of AC events. Among treated bears, overt reaction distance increased by 46.5% and displacement distance increased by 69.0% following AC programs, whereas both overt reaction distance and displacement distance decreased over time among control group bears. Each additional AC event during the previous 30 days increased likelihood of bear departure in response to researcher presence by 4.5%. The success of AC events varied among individuals, declined with distance to cover, and increased with exposure to previous AC events. Projectiles launched from guns were slightly more effective at causing bears to displace compared to those launched from slingshots, and sound stimuli decreased the likelihood of a successful AC event. AC did not alter diurnal use by bears of human-dominated habitat. Our results suggest that AC effectively increases short-term wariness in black bears but does not alter bear use of human-dominated spaces, highlighting the importance of proactive attractant management and prevention of food conditioning. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T12:29:12Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5e1f337469494f609e5aea535c43aace |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T12:29:12Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-5e1f337469494f609e5aea535c43aace2024-01-22T05:31:05ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032024-01-01191e029598910.1371/journal.pone.0295989Aversive conditioning increases short-term wariness but does not change habitat use in black bears associated with conflict.Lori HomstolSage RaymondClaire EdwardsAnthony N HamiltonColleen Cassady St ClairConflict between humans and black bears (Ursus americanus) occurs throughout North America with increasing public demand to replace lethal management with non-lethal methods, such as aversive conditioning (AC). AC aims to teach animals to associate negative stimuli with humans or their infrastructure. We sought to test the efficacy of AC using radio-collared black bears in Whistler, British Columbia, by monitoring individuals and assigning those in conflict with people to control or treatment groups. We measured wariness using overt reaction distance, displacement distance, and reaction to researchers before, during and after executing 3-5-day AC programs that consisted of launching projectiles at bears in the treatment group. We also assessed predictors of successful AC events (i.e., leaving at a run), changes in bear use of human-dominated habitat during the day and at night, and the effects of including a sound stimulus to signal the beginning and end of AC events. Among treated bears, overt reaction distance increased by 46.5% and displacement distance increased by 69.0% following AC programs, whereas both overt reaction distance and displacement distance decreased over time among control group bears. Each additional AC event during the previous 30 days increased likelihood of bear departure in response to researcher presence by 4.5%. The success of AC events varied among individuals, declined with distance to cover, and increased with exposure to previous AC events. Projectiles launched from guns were slightly more effective at causing bears to displace compared to those launched from slingshots, and sound stimuli decreased the likelihood of a successful AC event. AC did not alter diurnal use by bears of human-dominated habitat. Our results suggest that AC effectively increases short-term wariness in black bears but does not alter bear use of human-dominated spaces, highlighting the importance of proactive attractant management and prevention of food conditioning.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0295989&type=printable |
| spellingShingle | Lori Homstol Sage Raymond Claire Edwards Anthony N Hamilton Colleen Cassady St Clair Aversive conditioning increases short-term wariness but does not change habitat use in black bears associated with conflict. PLoS ONE |
| title | Aversive conditioning increases short-term wariness but does not change habitat use in black bears associated with conflict. |
| title_full | Aversive conditioning increases short-term wariness but does not change habitat use in black bears associated with conflict. |
| title_fullStr | Aversive conditioning increases short-term wariness but does not change habitat use in black bears associated with conflict. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Aversive conditioning increases short-term wariness but does not change habitat use in black bears associated with conflict. |
| title_short | Aversive conditioning increases short-term wariness but does not change habitat use in black bears associated with conflict. |
| title_sort | aversive conditioning increases short term wariness but does not change habitat use in black bears associated with conflict |
| url | https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0295989&type=printable |
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