Seasonal and annual variation in the food habits of Apennine brown bears, central Italy

Abstract Only scanty and outdated knowledge is available on the food habits of the Apennine brown bear (Ursus arctos marsicanus) population, despite its critical conservation status. Based on 2,359 scats, collected from June 2006 through December 2009, we documented seasonal and annual variation in the diet of this bear population within its 1,294-km2 core distribution in Abruzzo, Lazio, and Molise National Park and its external buffer area in central Italy. Using correction factors to estimate digestible energy, we revealed substantial consumption of plant matter by bears, including herbaceous vegetation in spring (mean ± SD; 31.7% ± 25%) and early summer (19.0% ± 7%), a variety of naturally occurring berries in summer (56.5% ± 14%), and hard mast (66.9% ± 21%), largely supplemented by fleshy fruits (26.3% ± 18%), in the fall. Bears also consumed insects, mostly ants, in early summer (38.3% ± 7%), and wild ungulates in spring (10.2% ± 11%). Hard mast production strongly influenced year-to-year variation ...