Is the social behavior of Asiatic black bears affected by genetic relatedness?

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K07563
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Ecology/Environment
• Research Institution: Shinshu University
• Principal Investigator: Takii Akiko 信州大学, 先鋭領域融合研究群山岳科学研究拠点, 助教(特定雇用) (00792607)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 山本 俊昭 日本獣医生命科学大学, 獣医学部, 准教授 (30409255) ; 泉山 茂之 信州大学, 学術研究院農学系, 教授 (60432176)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: ツキノワグマ / 個体間関係 / 血縁関係 / 行動生態 / 交尾期

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, we aimed to clarify the influence of genetic relatedness on bear’s social relations. We investigated dynamic interaction of GPS collared bears from 9-years survey data, and estimated genetic relatedness from genetic analysis. We confirmed that dynamic interaction was observed in both different sex and same sex regardless of season. Male-female associations had longer durations and showed a clear seasonal fluctuation compared to same sex associations. Duration of association of same sex never lasted more than 20 hours. Most of the male-female and male-male associations were not genetically related, which suggested bears avoided inbreeding. More than half of female-female associations were genetically related, but the duration of association was not affected by genetic relatedness.

Free Research Field

動物生態

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究では、不明な点の多かったツキノワグマの個体間関係の詳細について、長期間のGPSテレメトリー調査から初めて解明することができた。なかでも、ツキノワグマの種の存続にとって最も重要と考えられる交尾を伴う異性同士の近接から明らかとなった近接時間や行動は、交尾行動の重要性を示唆しており、クマ類の生息地選択を解釈する際の重要な知見を得た。近年問題となっているツキノワグマの人里出没要因について検討する際は、食物資源や採食行動のみならず交尾行動についても考慮することが必要である。