Black bear data_Moore et al

This file contains information from black bear samples collected via harvest from the Northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan, USA. File includes bear ID, sex, estimated age at the time of harvest, geographic coordinates of harvest locations (the centroid of the township, range, and section reported by hunters), and the 12-locus microsatellite genotypes. See associated manuscript for specific details about sample collection, bear aging, sexing, geographic locations, and genotyping

Thermal Hatch Data File

File contains data for the 1200 larvae measured at hatch. Data includes individual ID codes, thermal incubation treatment the individual incubated in from egg to hatch, family code (each code represents a cross between 1 female and 1 male; families were half-sibling groups with one female crossed with two males therefore the half-sib groups include A and B, C and D, E and F, G and H, and I and J), and measurements for the three phenotypic traits quantified at hatch: body length (mm), body area (mm), and yolk-sac area (mm^2). Note: Thermal incubation treatments were coded as A=Warm, B=Variable, C=Ambient, and D=Cold prior to analysis of the data

Distribution of black bear dispersal distances.

<p>Frequency histogram of pairwise distances between black bear mother and offspring dyads, for all individual males (black bars, n = 178) and females (grey bars, n = 159). Distances along the x-axis represent the upper bounds for each bin.</p

Summary of pairwise Euclidean distances for black bear mother-offspring dyads, by offspring sex, including samples sizes (N), and ages of offspring (at time of death), and mothers (at time of offspring birth).

<p>(Dispersers are defined by distances between natal and harvest locations (>30 km for males, and >20 km for females) based on results of an independent genetic spatial autocorrelation analysis)</p

Example of black bear dispersal patterns.

<p>Example illustrating three cohorts of offspring from one black bear mother, showing patterns of sex-specific distances, and dispersal patterns in relation to harvest density (low  =  white, high  =  black). Offspring are labeled according to sex and year of birth. Square on inset indicates approximate area in Michigan.</p

Top ten linear mixed effects models of black bear dispersal probability and dispersal distance including Akaike's Information Criteria (AIC) rescaled to the lowest value (ΔAIC), and Akaike weights (<i>w_i</i>).

<p>Mother ID was included as a random effect in all models. Models with ΔAIC ≤ 2 are supported. See <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0091168#pone.0091168.s002" target="_blank">File S2</a> for a complete list of model results. (Model parameters are sex of offspring (<i>offsex</i>), age of offspring (<i>offage</i>), maternal age at the time of offspring birth (<i>momage_corr),</i> habitat type at the natal site (<i>momhab</i>), habitat type at the settlement site (<i>offhab</i>), harvest density at the natal site (<i>momharv</i>), harvest density at the settlement site (<i>offharv</i>), habitat suitability rank at the settlement site (<i>offhs</i>), and habitat suitability rank at the natal site (<i>momhs</i>), * indicates an interaction).</p

2005offspringgenotypes

Data include ID and 12 microsatelitte loci genotypes of juveniles collected in 2005. IDs were marked as BDF-, BDM-, WDF-, and WDM-. DF and DM represent live and dead juveniles, respecitively, which were collected and reared in streamside hatcheries (B: Black Lake hatchery; W: Wolf Lake hatchery) for three months before being released to the river

Dispersal probabilities, by age.

<p>Proportion of male (black bars) and female (grey bars) black bears that dispersed, by age. Sample sizes are presented above bars.</p

Application of Large-Scale Parentage Analysis for Investigating Natal Dispersal in Highly Vagile Vertebrates: A Case Study of American Black Bears (<i>Ursus americanus</i>)

<div><p>Understanding the factors that affect dispersal is a fundamental question in ecology and conservation biology, particularly as populations are faced with increasing anthropogenic impacts. Here we collected georeferenced genetic samples (n = 2,540) from three generations of black bears (<i>Ursus americanus</i>) harvested in a large (47,739 km²), geographically isolated population and used parentage analysis to identify mother-offspring dyads (n = 337). We quantified the effects of sex, age, habitat type and suitability, and local harvest density at the natal and settlement sites on the probability of natal dispersal, and on dispersal distances. Dispersal was male-biased (76% of males dispersed) but a small proportion (21%) of females also dispersed, and female dispersal distances (mean ± SE  =  48.9±7.7 km) were comparable to male dispersal distances (59.0±3.2 km). Dispersal probabilities and dispersal distances were greatest for bears in areas with high habitat suitability and low harvest density. The inverse relationship between dispersal and harvest density in black bears suggests that 1) intensive harvest promotes restricted dispersal, or 2) high black bear population density decreases the propensity to disperse. Multigenerational genetic data collected over large landscape scales can be a powerful means of characterizing dispersal patterns and causal associations with demographic and landscape features in wild populations of elusive and wide-ranging species.</p></div

2007offspringgenotypes

Data include ID and 12 microsatelitte loci genotypes of juveniles collected in 2007. IDs were marked as DF-, and DM- which represent live and dead juveniles, respecitively, which were collected and reared in a streamside hatchery (Black Lake hatchery) for three months before being released to the river