Replication data for: Room without a view—Den excavation in relation to body size in brown bears

Data set used as well as model validation plots for the article "Room without a view – den excavation in relation to body size in brown bears". The data were collected as part of the long-term and individual based monitoring program of brown bears by the Scandinavian Brown bear Research Project (www.bearproject.info).Article Abstract - Related PublicationHibernation is an adaptive strategy to survive harsh winter conditions and food shortage. The use of well-insulated winter dens helps animals minimize energy loss during hibernation. Brown bears (Ursus arctos) commonly use excavated dens for hibernation. Physical attributes of excavated dens are expected to impact the bear's heat retention and energy conservation. The objective of this study was to examine the determinants of cavity size of excavated dens and the impact of physical attributes of excavated dens on energy conservation in hibernating bears, hypothesizing that bears excavate dens in a way to minimize heat loss and optimize energy conservation during hibernation. We predicted that den cavity size would be determined by the bear's body size and that older bears would excavate better-fitting cavities to minimize heat loss, due to their previous experience. We further predicted that physical attributes of excavated dens would affect the bears’ posthibernation body condition. Our results revealed that bears excavated a den cavity in relation to their body size, regardless of sex, and that older bears tended to excavate better-fitting den cavities compared to young bears, as we expected. Older bears excavated better-fitting den cavities, suggesting a potentially experience-based shift with age in den-excavation behavior and an optimum cavity size relative to a bear's body size. Our key finding is that insulation of excavated dens provided by wall/rood thickness and bedding materials had a significant positive effect on bears’ posthibernation body condition. We believe that our study provides new insight into how not only the quality of denning habitat, but also the quality of dens may affect hibernating animals, by presenting a potential adaptive aspect of den preparation (age effect on efficiency in den excavation) and effect of den attributes on the posthibernation body condition of brown bears.

本文所使用的数据集及模型验证图表，旨在探讨“无景之室——与棕熊体型相关的洞穴挖掘”一文。该数据集作为斯堪的纳维亚棕熊研究项目（www.bearproject.info）长期且基于个体的棕熊监测计划的一部分而收集。文章摘要——相关出版物：冬眠作为一种适应策略，有助于动物在严酷的冬季条件和食物短缺中生存。利用良好绝热的冬季洞穴有助于动物在冬眠期间最大限度地减少能量损失。棕熊（Ursus arctos）通常挖掘洞穴进行冬眠。挖掘洞穴的物理特性预计会影响熊的热量保持和能量节约。本研究的目的是检验挖掘洞穴内部空间大小的决定因素以及挖掘洞穴的物理特性对冬眠熊能量节约的影响，假设熊挖掘洞穴的方式旨在最小化热量损失并优化冬眠期间的能量节约。我们预测，洞穴内部空间大小将由熊的体型决定，并且老年熊会挖掘更加贴合的洞穴以减少热量损失，这归因于它们先前经验。我们进一步预测，挖掘洞穴的物理特性将影响熊冬眠后的身体状况。我们的结果表明，熊根据其体型挖掘洞穴，无论性别如何，并且老年熊比年轻熊更有可能挖掘更加贴合的洞穴，正如我们所预期的那样。老年熊挖掘更加贴合的洞穴，表明随着年龄增长，洞穴挖掘行为可能存在基于经验的转变，并且相对于熊的体型存在一个最优的洞穴大小。我们的主要发现是，由墙体/屋顶厚度和铺垫材料提供的挖掘洞穴的隔热性能对熊冬眠后的身体状况有显著的积极影响。我们相信，本研究不仅揭示了洞穴栖息地质量，还揭示了洞穴质量可能如何影响冬眠动物，通过提出洞穴准备（年龄对洞穴挖掘效率的影响）的潜在适应性方面以及洞穴特性对棕熊冬眠后身体状况的影响。