2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

How does black bears spend their spring and summer - individual based ecological and physiological studies -

Research Project

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Project/Area Number	19H03002
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Review Section	Basic Section 40010:Forest science-related
Research Institution	Tokyo University of Agriculture
Principal Investigator	Yamazaki Koji 東京農業大学, 地域環境科学部, 教授 (40568424)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	坪田敏男北海道大学, 獣医学研究院, 教授 (10207441) 森光由樹兵庫県立大学, 自然・環境科学研究所, 准教授 (20453160) 小池伸介東京農工大学, (連合)農学研究科(研究院), 教授 (40514865)
Project Period (FY)	2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
Keywords	ツキノワグマ / 生態 / 生理
Outline of Final Research Achievements	From spring to summer can be critical season for Japanese black bears, because of the body fat reserve which obtained in last autumn has been decreasing. Hence, the bears should ideally decline the activity level, and should minimize their energy expenditure during this period. We determine how the bears in different social status (e.g., sex, age, cub existence) respond to this situation using modern study equipment and methods. In the result, most of the bears, female with cub, adult males in heat, sub-adult male, were not able to decline the activity level. This behavioral character may cause the bear intrusion to human residential area before autumn.
Free Research Field	哺乳類生態学
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	これまで明らかにされてこなかった，ツキノワグマの春から夏の生態と生理について，私たちが開発から携わった機材を用いることにより新たな知見を得ることが出来た。ツキノワグマの人間生活空間への大量出没では，冬眠前の秋期の食欲亢進期（飽食期）の堅果の結実多寡が出没のひとつのトリガーであることが確認されているものの，実際の出没は堅果結実前の春から夏にはじまり，その機序は十分に説明できていない。本研究の成果は，ツキノワグマの出没機序の解明に新しい光を当てることが期待でき，社会的意義も大きなものである。