Data from: Does learning or instinct shape habitat selection?

Habitat selection is an important behavioural process widely studied for its population-level effects. Models of habitat selection are, however, often fit without a mechanistic consideration. Here, we investigated whether patterns in habitat selection result from instinct or learning for a population of grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) in Alberta, Canada. We found that habitat selection and relatedness were positively correlated in female bears during the fall season, with a trend in the spring, but not during any season for males. This suggests that habitat selection is a learned behaviour because males do not participate in parental care: a genetically predetermined behaviour (instinct) would have resulted in habitat selection and relatedness correlations for both sexes. Geographic distance and home range overlap among animals did not alter correlations indicating that dispersal and spatial autocorrelation had little effect on the observed trends. These results suggest that habitat selection in grizzly bears are partly learned from their mothers, which could have implications for the translocation of wildlife to novel environments.

生境选择（habitat selection）是一类重要的行为过程，因其对种群层面的效应而受到广泛研究。然而，现有生境选择模型的构建与拟合往往未结合机制性考量。本研究以加拿大阿尔伯塔省的灰熊（Ursus arctos）种群为研究对象，探究其生境选择模式究竟源于先天本能还是后天学习行为。研究结果显示，秋季雌性灰熊的生境选择与亲缘关系呈正相关，春季亦存在该趋势；但雄性个体在任何季节均未表现出此类相关性。这一发现提示生境选择属于后天习得行为：由于雄性灰熊不参与亲代抚育，若生境选择为遗传决定的本能行为，则雌雄两性均应表现出生境选择与亲缘关系的相关性。个体间的地理距离与家域（home range）重叠并未改变该相关性，表明扩散与空间自相关（spatial autocorrelation）对观测到的趋势影响极小。综上，本研究结果表明灰熊的生境选择部分源于从母体处习得的行为，这一发现对将野生动物易地安置至全新环境的相关工作具有潜在指导意义。