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Chapter 3 - Interspecific Interactions between Brown Bears, Ungulates, and Other Large Carnivores

from Part I - Systematics, Ecology, and Behavior

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 November 2020

By
Andrés Ordiz ,
Miha Krofel ,
Cyril Milleret ,
Ivan Seryodkin ,
Aimee Tallian ,
Ole-Gunnar Støen ,
Therese Ramberg Sivertsen ,
Jonas Kindberg ,
Petter Wabakken  and
Håkan Sand
...Show all authors
Edited by
Vincenzo Penteriani  and
Mario Melletti
Vincenzo Penteriani
Affiliation:
Spanish Council of Scientific Research (CSIC)
Mario Melletti
Affiliation:
WPSG (Wild Pig Specialist Group) IUCN SSC
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Summary

Large carnivores, such as brown bears (Ursus arctos), wolves (Canis lupus), and tigers (Panthera tigris), can play a key ecological role from their apex position in trophic systems. Within the overall context of bottom-up and top-down regulation of ecosystems, predation by large carnivores often induces demographic and behavioral changes in prey species. These vertical interactions between different trophic levels are important regulatory mechanisms in nature. On the other hand, competitive interactions between species, or horizontal interactions within the same trophic level, are also common. Interspecific interactions between large carnivores are widespread in many ecosystems and can play an important role in community structure and stability. Predation is the mechanism driving apex predators’ function in nature, but it is also a source of conflict with different stakeholders, e.g. hunters and livestock owners, when predation affects domestic or semidomestic species (depredation). This situation is challenging when trying to secure long-term carnivore conservation and coexistence with people in the human-dominated landscapes that currently characterize most of our planet.

Keywords

bearsungulatestigerwolfpredator interactionscompetitionapex carnivores
Type
Chapter
Information
Bears of the World
Ecology, Conservation and Management
 , pp. 36 - 44
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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