Asiatic Black Bear Microsite Selection in a Human-Dominated Landscape in the Central Alps, Japan: Implications for Mitigating Human–Bear Conflicts

With the rapid expansion of human development and associated changes in landscape use, opportunities for human land sharing with large mammalian carnivores, such as those belong to the family Ursidae is increasing, especially in human-dominated landscapes. Consequently, this increased coexistence has also led to an increase in human–bear (Ursus spp.) interactions. It is important to understand the spatial and temporal reactions (e.g., interactions between cover, time, and humans) of bears to mitigate human–bear conflicts and facilitate coexistence. However, managers often need better information regarding bear microsite habitat selection in areas with higher levels of human–bear encounter risks. We explored the characteristics (cover and time of day used) of the microsites used by the Asiatic black bear (U. thibetanus; bear) living in the vicinity of human-dominated lands by monitoring 9 Asiatic black bears equipped with global positioning system transmitters during the summer of 2021 in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. Our study area is considered to have high human and bear population densities, with a high risk of human encounters. We observed that radio-marked bears increased their nocturnal activity and tended to use extremely low visibility areas as resting sites, especially during daytime. Moreover, bears selected sites with relatively lower visibility than bears inhabiting areas with low human encounter risk, irrespective of day or night. Our findings provide important insight into measures to prevent bears from entering high-density human-dominated landscapes. These measures included the development and maintenance of vegetation covered buffer zones.