How artificial feeding for tourism-watching modifies black bear space use and habitat selection

Artificial feeding stations often are established to attract and habituate wildlife species to facilitate their observation, but this activity is controversial because of its potential negative impact on wildlife and, in some cases, threat to human safety. Bear managers have few empirical data to establish guidelines for bear-watching sites. The objective of our study was to compare behaviors of black bear (Ursus americanus) with access to a highly-predictable artificial food source established for tourist-watching purposes (n = 11) and control bears (n = 16) in the boreal forest of Quebec, Canada. We hypothesized that fed bears would have lesser movement rates and smaller home-range sizes than control bears, and that they would exhibit lower selection of habitat types providing abundant natural food resources (agricultural lands, regenerating, and disturbed stands) because they visit fewer food patches to meet their energy requirements. We also predicted that behavioral differences between fed and control bears would be most obvious during the period of hyperphagia (late summer and fall) when bears increase their food intake. Between 2008 and 2011, we located fed bears