Brown bear body patches are temporally stable and represent a unique individual visual signature

Patches of color may be used to communicate to conspecifics, mainly in species showing uniform coloration, and may (a) help individuals maintain visual contact, such as between mothers and their young; (b) function as signals of subordination or to frighten rivals; (c) warn conspecifics of approachi...

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Autores: Penteriani, Vincenzo, Hartasánchez, Alfonso, Díaz García, Juan, Magadan Ruitiña, José Ramón, Delgado Sánchez, María del Mar
Tipo de documento: artigo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Data de publicação:2023
País:España
Recursos:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositório:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/303410
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/303410
Access Level:Acceso aberto
Palavra-chave:Body patches
Brown bear
Camera trap
Fur marks
Intraspecific communication
Ursus arctos
Visual capture–recapture
Visual communication
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spelling Brown bear body patches are temporally stable and represent a unique individual visual signaturePenteriani, VincenzoHartasánchez, AlfonsoDíaz García, JuanMagadan Ruitiña, José RamónDelgado Sánchez, María del MarBody patchesBrown bearCamera trapFur marksIntraspecific communicationUrsus arctosVisual capture–recaptureVisual communicationPatches of color may be used to communicate to conspecifics, mainly in species showing uniform coloration, and may (a) help individuals maintain visual contact, such as between mothers and their young; (b) function as signals of subordination or to frighten rivals; (c) warn conspecifics of approaching predators; and/or (d) signal reproductive condition, health, or genetic quality to potential mates. Intraspecific communication represents one of the major evolutionary forces responsible for the coloration of body parts, but the meaning of many of these signals is still unclear. One of the first steps to understanding whether fur marks have a role in social communication is to understand whether such body patches are stable over time (i.e., whether they represent a unique visual signature for every individual). During the period 1999–2021, we recorded yearly pictures of 7 female (mean no. of monitoring years per bear = 13.6, standard deviation [SD] = 4.6; range = 9–22 yr) and 6 male (mean no. of monitoring years per bear = 9.3, SD = 4.3; range = 5–15 yr) brown bears (Ursus arctos) in the Cantabrian Mountains (NW Spain). We show that body mark shapes are stable over time and, because of their uniqueness, might represent a distinctive signature of individuals. Brown bear body marks may act as multicomponent signals, where different features of a given mark may inform about different aspects of the bearer or act as back-ups. For example, a quality-signaling capacity does not preclude the same mark from being used in other functions at the same time, such as individual recognition. Noninvasive techniques helpful for identifying individuals have been developed for estimating population size, reproductive rates, and the survival of several carnivore species. Fur marks that are stable over time can thus be useful in field research (e.g., body marks that are persistent and do not vary over time are an important tool in longitudinal photographic capture–recapture studies).VP was financially supported by the Excellence Project PID2020-114181GB-I00, CGL2017-82782-P financed by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI), and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER, EU). Fondo para la Protección de los Animales Salvajes (FAPAS) brown bear monitoring is financed by the EURONATUR Foundation.Peer reviewedBioOneMinisterio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (España)Agencia Estatal de Investigación (España)European CommissionEuroNaturPenteriani, Vincenzo [0000-0002-9333-7846]Delgado, María del Mar [0000-0002-3009-738X]Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [https://ror.org/02gfc7t72]202320232023info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501Postprintinfo:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersionapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10261/303410reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSICinstname:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)Inglés#PLACEHOLDER_PARENT_METADATA_VALUE##PLACEHOLDER_PARENT_METADATA_VALUE#info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/AEI/Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2017-2020/PID2020-114181GB-I00info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/AEI/Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2013-2016/CGL2017-82782-PThe underlying dataset has been published as supplementary material of the article in the publisher platform at https://doi.org/10.2192/URSUS-D-22-00015https://doi.org/10.2192/URSUS-D-22-00015Síinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:digital.csic.es:10261/3034102026-05-22T06:33:51Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Brown bear body patches are temporally stable and represent a unique individual visual signature
title Brown bear body patches are temporally stable and represent a unique individual visual signature
spellingShingle Brown bear body patches are temporally stable and represent a unique individual visual signature
Penteriani, Vincenzo
Body patches
Brown bear
Camera trap
Fur marks
Intraspecific communication
Ursus arctos
Visual capture–recapture
Visual communication
title_short Brown bear body patches are temporally stable and represent a unique individual visual signature
title_full Brown bear body patches are temporally stable and represent a unique individual visual signature
title_fullStr Brown bear body patches are temporally stable and represent a unique individual visual signature
title_full_unstemmed Brown bear body patches are temporally stable and represent a unique individual visual signature
title_sort Brown bear body patches are temporally stable and represent a unique individual visual signature
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Penteriani, Vincenzo
Hartasánchez, Alfonso
Díaz García, Juan
Magadan Ruitiña, José Ramón
Delgado Sánchez, María del Mar
author Penteriani, Vincenzo
author_facet Penteriani, Vincenzo
Hartasánchez, Alfonso
Díaz García, Juan
Magadan Ruitiña, José Ramón
Delgado Sánchez, María del Mar
author_role author
author2 Hartasánchez, Alfonso
Díaz García, Juan
Magadan Ruitiña, José Ramón
Delgado Sánchez, María del Mar
author2_role author
author
author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (España)
Agencia Estatal de Investigación (España)
European Commission
EuroNatur
Penteriani, Vincenzo [0000-0002-9333-7846]
Delgado, María del Mar [0000-0002-3009-738X]
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [https://ror.org/02gfc7t72]
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Body patches
Brown bear
Camera trap
Fur marks
Intraspecific communication
Ursus arctos
Visual capture–recapture
Visual communication
topic Body patches
Brown bear
Camera trap
Fur marks
Intraspecific communication
Ursus arctos
Visual capture–recapture
Visual communication
description Patches of color may be used to communicate to conspecifics, mainly in species showing uniform coloration, and may (a) help individuals maintain visual contact, such as between mothers and their young; (b) function as signals of subordination or to frighten rivals; (c) warn conspecifics of approaching predators; and/or (d) signal reproductive condition, health, or genetic quality to potential mates. Intraspecific communication represents one of the major evolutionary forces responsible for the coloration of body parts, but the meaning of many of these signals is still unclear. One of the first steps to understanding whether fur marks have a role in social communication is to understand whether such body patches are stable over time (i.e., whether they represent a unique visual signature for every individual). During the period 1999–2021, we recorded yearly pictures of 7 female (mean no. of monitoring years per bear = 13.6, standard deviation [SD] = 4.6; range = 9–22 yr) and 6 male (mean no. of monitoring years per bear = 9.3, SD = 4.3; range = 5–15 yr) brown bears (Ursus arctos) in the Cantabrian Mountains (NW Spain). We show that body mark shapes are stable over time and, because of their uniqueness, might represent a distinctive signature of individuals. Brown bear body marks may act as multicomponent signals, where different features of a given mark may inform about different aspects of the bearer or act as back-ups. For example, a quality-signaling capacity does not preclude the same mark from being used in other functions at the same time, such as individual recognition. Noninvasive techniques helpful for identifying individuals have been developed for estimating population size, reproductive rates, and the survival of several carnivore species. Fur marks that are stable over time can thus be useful in field research (e.g., body marks that are persistent and do not vary over time are an important tool in longitudinal photographic capture–recapture studies).
publishDate 2023
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2023
2023
2023
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
Postprint
info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion
format article
status_str acceptedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10261/303410
url http://hdl.handle.net/10261/303410
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv #PLACEHOLDER_PARENT_METADATA_VALUE#
#PLACEHOLDER_PARENT_METADATA_VALUE#
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/AEI/Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2017-2020/PID2020-114181GB-I00
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/AEI/Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2013-2016/CGL2017-82782-P
The underlying dataset has been published as supplementary material of the article in the publisher platform at https://doi.org/10.2192/URSUS-D-22-00015
https://doi.org/10.2192/URSUS-D-22-00015

dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv BioOne
publisher.none.fl_str_mv BioOne
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
instname:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
instname_str Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
reponame_str DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
collection DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
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