Data from: Forbidden fruit: human settlement and abundant fruit create an ecological trap for an apex omnivore

Habitat choice is an evolutionary product of animals experiencing increased fitness when preferentially occupying high-quality habitat. However, an ecological trap (ET) can occur when an animal is presented with novel conditions and the animal's assessment of habitat quality is poorly matched to its resulting fitness. We tested for an ET for grizzly (brown) bears using demographic and movement data collected in an area with rich food resources and concentrated human settlement. We derived measures of habitat attractiveness from occurrence models of bear food resources and estimated demographic parameters using DNA mark–recapture information collected over 8 years (2006–2013). We then paired this information with grizzly bear mortality records to investigate kill and movement rates. Our results demonstrate that a valley high in both berry resources and human density was more attractive than surrounding areas, and bears occupying this region faced 17% lower apparent survival. Despite lower fitness, we detected a net flow of bears into the ET, which contributed to a study-wide population decline. This work highlights the presence and pervasiveness of an ET for an apex omnivore that lacks the evolutionary cues, under human-induced rapid ecological change, to assess trade-offs between food resources and human-caused mortality, which results in maladaptive habitat selection.生境选择是动物优先占据优质生境以提升适合度（fitness）的演化产物。然而，当动物面临全新环境条件，且其对生境质量的评估与实际获得的适合度严重不匹配时，便可能出现生态陷阱（ecological trap, ET）。本研究针对灰熊（grizzly bear，亦称棕熊）的生态陷阱效应开展检验，所用数据为在食物资源丰富、人类聚居集中的区域收集的种群统计与运动轨迹数据。我们基于灰熊食物资源的出现模型推导生境吸引力指标，并利用2006至2013年共8年的DNA标记重捕法（DNA mark–recapture）数据估算种群统计参数。随后我们将上述数据集与灰熊死亡记录进行整合，以此探究其被猎杀率与移动速率。研究结果显示，浆果资源与人类密度均较高的山谷相较于周边区域更具吸引力，栖息于此的灰熊表观存活率（apparent survival）降低了17%。尽管该区域内灰熊适合度更低，但我们仍检测到灰熊向该生态陷阱的净迁入现象，进而引发了研究区域内的种群整体衰退。本研究揭示了这类生态陷阱在顶级杂食动物种群中的存在与普遍性：在人类活动诱导的快速生态变化背景下，这类动物缺乏评估食物资源与人类活动致死风险之间权衡的演化线索，进而做出了适应性不良的生境选择。