No abstract

September 12, 2012; doi:10.1152/ajpregu.00313.2012.-Seasonal cycles of reproduction, migration, and hibernation are often synchronized to changes in daylength (photoperiod). Ecological and evolutionary pressures have resulted in physiological specializations enabling animals to occupy a particular temporal niche within the diel cycle leading to characteristic activity patterns. In this study, we characterized the annual locomotor activity of captive brown bears (Ursus arctos). Locomotor activity was observed in 18 bears of varying ages and sexes during the active (Mar-Oct) and hibernating (Nov-Feb) seasons. All bears exhibited either crepuscular or diurnal activity patterns. Estimates of activity duration (␣) and synchronization to the daily light:dark cycle (phase angles) indirectly measured photoresponsiveness. ␣ increased as daylength increased but diverged near the autumnal equinox. Phase angles varied widely between active and hibernating seasons and exhibited a clear annual rhythm. To directly test the role of photoperiod, bears were exposed to controlled photoperiod alterations. Bears failed to alter their daily activity patterns (entrain) to experimental photoperiods during the active season. In contrast, photic entrainment was evident during hibernation when the daily photocycle was shifted and when bears were exposed to a skeleton (11:1:11:1) photoperiod. To test whether entrainment to nonphotic cues superseded photic entrainment during the active season, bears were exposed to a reversed feeding regimen (dark-fed) under a natural photocycle. Activity shifted entirely to a nocturnal pattern. Thus daily activity in brown bears is highly modifiable by photoperiod and food availability in a stereotypic seasonal fashion. entrainment; food-entrainable oscillator; hibernation; phase shift; brown bear ACTIVITY PATTERNS are a useful behavioral measure to inform ecological and conservation studies. By examining these patterns, the impact of habitat destruction, food availability, and conspecific interactions can be revealed. Furthermore, a large body of literature has revealed that rather than merely being stimulated or suppressed by light and dark, many activity patterns are generated by a clock-like mechanism (17,60). This biological clock is highly conserved because it enables animals to accurately and reliably perform functions integral to survival due to the predictable nature of the earth's rotation and seasonal changes in daylength (5). The biological clock thus serves as both a timekeeper and calendar.Considerable research has characterized activity patterns of wild brown (Ursus arctos) and black bears (Ursus americanus), although much less is known about the physiological mechanisms that generate them. Both brown and black bears are capable of exhibiting a wide variety of activity patterns depending on season, geographic location, food availability, and human influences, just to name a few (22,27,34,41,49,54,77). Bears exhibit distinct seasonal timing of activities such as reproduction and hyperphagia ...

Understanding behavioral responses of species to environmental change is critical to forecasting population-level effects. Although climate change is significantly impacting species' distributions, few studies have examined associated changes in behavior. Polar bear (Ursus maritimus) subpopulations have varied in their near-term responses to sea ice decline. We examined behavioral responses of two adjacent subpopulations to changes in habitat availability during the annual sea ice minimum using activity data. Location and activity sensor data collected from 1989 to 2014 for 202 adult female polar bears in the Southern Beaufort Sea (SB) and Chukchi Sea (CS) subpopulations were used to compare activity in three habitat types varying in prey availability: (1) land; (2) ice over shallow, biologically productive waters; and (3) ice over deeper, less productive waters. Bears varied activity across and within habitats with the highest activity at 50-75% sea ice concentration over shallow waters. On land, SB bears exhibited variable but relatively high activity associated with the use of subsistence-harvested bowhead whale carcasses, whereas CS bears exhibited low activity consistent with minimal feeding. Both subpopulations had fewer observations in their preferred shallow-water sea ice habitats in recent years, corresponding with declines in availability of this substrate. The substantially higher use of marginal habitats by SB bears is an additional mechanism potentially explaining why this subpopulation has experienced negative effects of sea ice loss compared to the still-productive CS subpopulation. Variability in activity among, and within, habitats suggests that bears alter their behavior in response to habitat conditions, presumably in an attempt to balance prey availability with energy costs.

Life in the Arctic presents organisms with multiple challenges, including extreme photic conditions, cold temperatures, and annual loss and daily movement of sea ice. Polar bears ( Ursus maritimus) evolved under these unique conditions, where they rely on ice to hunt their main prey, seals. However, very little is known about the dynamics of their daily and seasonal activity patterns. For many organisms, activity is synchronized (entrained) to the earth’s day/night cycle, in part via an endogenous (circadian) timekeeping mechanism. The present study used collar-mounted accelerometer and global positioning system data from 122 female polar bears in the Chukchi and Southern Beaufort Seas collected over an 8-year period to characterize activity patterns over the calendar year and to determine if circadian rhythms are expressed under the constant conditions found in the Arctic. We reveal that the majority of polar bears (80%) exhibited rhythmic activity for the duration of their recordings. Collectively within the rhythmic bear cohort, circadian rhythms were detected during periods of constant daylight (June-August; 24.40 ± 1.39 h, mean ± SD) and constant darkness (23.89 ± 1.72 h). Exclusive of denning periods (November-April), the time of peak activity remained relatively stable (acrophases: ~1200-1400 h) for most of the year, suggesting either entrainment or masking. However, activity patterns shifted during the spring feeding and seal pupping season, as evidenced by an acrophase inversion to ~2400 h in April, followed by highly variable timing of activity across bears in May. Intriguingly, despite the dynamic environmental photoperiodic conditions, unpredictable daily timing of prey availability, and high between-animal variability, the average duration of activity (alpha) remained stable (11.2 ± 2.9 h) for most of the year. Together, these results reveal a high degree of behavioral plasticity in polar bears while also retaining circadian rhythmicity. Whether this degree of plasticity will benefit polar bears faced with a loss of sea ice remains to be determined.