Ecology of fear alters behaviour of grizzly bears exposed to bear-viewing ecotourism

Humans are perceived as predators by many species and may generate landscapes of fear, influencing the spatiotemporal activity of wildlife. Additionally, wildlife might seek out human activity when faced with predation risks (human shield hypothesis). We used the Anthropause, a decrease in human activity resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, to test the ecology of fear and human shield hypotheses and quantify the effects of bear-viewing ecotourism on grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) activity. We deployed camera traps in the Khutze watershed in Kitasoo Xai’xais Territory in the absence of humans in 2020 and with experimental treatments of variable human activity when ecotourism resumed in 2021. Daily bear detection rates decreased with more people present and increased with days since people were present. Human activity was also associated with more bear detections at forested sheltered sites, and less at exposed sites, likely due to the influence of habitat on bear perception of safety. The ..., Data were collected through an array of 40 remote cameras in the Khutze watershed in Kitasoo Xai'xais Territory to assess how ecotourism in the form of bear viewing might influence grizzly bear activity. This was assessed through multiple modelling techniques, including an overall bear detection rate model, individual detection rate models for different age-sex classes of bears, a multinomial model to further assess age-sex class differences, and an activity pattern analysis to assess temporal shifts in grizzly bear activity.
We used data from 2020 when ecotourism was closed in Khutze, as well as 2021 when ecotourism returned. For the full methods, please see the open access paper, Short et al., 2024 \"Ecology of fear alters behaviour of grizzly bears exposed to bear-viewing ecotourism\"., , # Data from: Ecology of fear alters behaviour of grizzly bears exposed to bear-viewing ecotourism

---

This dataset included the data and R code used in the analyses for the article \"Ecology of fear alters behaviour of grizzly bears exposed to bear-viewing ecotourism\"

## Description of the Data and file structure

For the full definitions of all variables and their structure please see Table 1 and Appendix 1: Table S2.

Please ignore any empty cells in the datasets, as they will be coded as N/A once they are read into R.

* Short_et_al_Data1.csv is the input data file for the detection rate model (Short_SupplementaryCode1.R) and activity pattern analysis (Short_SupplementaryCode3.R)
* Short_et_al_Data2.csv is the input data file for the age-sex class multinomial model (Short_SupplementaryCode2.R)
* Short_et_al_Data3.csv is an input data file for the activity pattern analysis (Short_SupplementaryCode3.R)
* Short_et_al_Data4.csv and Short_et_al_Data5.csv are the input data files...