DOI: 10.5061/dryad.7wm37pvtz
title: Spatially explicit genetic capture-recapture data from black bears in Ontario, Canada

description: The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources samples black bear (Ursus
 americanus) DNA at baited barbed wire hair corrals on multiple independent
 study areas in Ontario, Canada, annually since 2017 (except in 2020 and
 2021). Spatially explicit capture-recapture data from surveys conducted
 since 2017 are archived here. This data set will be cited in manuscripts
 presenting analyses of the entire data set or subsets thereof.
description: The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources sampled black bear DNA
 at baited barbed wire hair corrals on multiple independent study areas in
 Ontario, Canada, annually since 2017. Wire height (~50 cm) was intended to
 exclude dependent offspring (bears aged 0 and 1 years) from the sample.
 Sampling took place over 5 weekly sampling occasions in spring and early
 summer (except that sampling on ShirleyLakeRd in 2019 was extended by two
 weeks for a total of 7 occasions). Individuals and their sex were
 identified from microsatellite genotypes to 15 loci to generate encounter
 histories.
description: "StudyAreas.csv" lists the study area-specific files
 with trap locations ("traps_...csv") and bear encounter
 histories ("caps_...txt") and summarizes data collection
 results.<br>Also provided in this file are the year of sampling, the
 forest region sampled (boreal or Great Lakes St. Lawrence
 ["GLSL"; Rowe 1972]), and the Wildlife Landscape Zone (WLZ) i.e.
 management zone sampled. "traps...csv" files
 provide numeric labels (detectorID) and x- and y-coordinates of barbed
 wire hair corrals on each study area. <br>Coordinate units are UTMs
 (datum = NAD83; longitude zone included in the filename at end after
 "Z")<br>Wherever temporal sampling effort varied among
 sampling occasions, week-specific sampling effort in days is provided as
 additional columns in traps files. <br>These additional colums are
 usually recognized by the 'secr' R package and included as
 'usage' information when traps and capthist objects are
 created.  "caps....txt" files are
 individual-specific encounter histories. Columns are (1)
 "session", which references the study area (and year for study
 areas sampled in multiple years), <br>(2) "indiv": an
 individual identifier for different bears, (3) "ocn" is the
 temporal sampling occasion, <br>(4) "trap": is an
 identifier for a sampling location (coordinates in corresponding
 "traps...csv" file), and "sex" ("fem" or
 "mal").<br>Encounter histories exclude repeat detections
 of the same individual at the same trap within occasions 
 All "caps" and "traps" files include the
 study area name and the year of sampling in the file name to ensure
 encounter histories can be matched to the appropriate traps.
 Session names are unique across study area and year-specific data
 sets. Session names are study area names except for study areas sampled in
 more than one year. For those study areas, we appended the year of
 sampling to the study area name for all years other than the first
 year.<br>E.g. for the study area named "Sowden", the
 session name for 2017 data is "Sowden", and for data from
 subsequent years the session names are "Sowden2018", and
 "Sowden2019". Example R script for importing
 study-area specific data and formatting them as a capthist object is
 provided ("RScript_InputBlackbearSECRdata.txt").
description: # Spatially explicit genetic capture-recapture data from black bears in
 Ontario, Canada
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.7wm37pvtz](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.7wm37pvtz) ## Description of the data and file structure The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources sampled black bear DNA at baited barbed wire hair corrals on multiple independent study areas in Ontario, Canada, annually starting in 2017. No sampling was conducted in 2020 or 2021 due to COVID-19.  Wire height (~50 cm) was intended to exclude dependent offspring (bears aged 0 and 1 years) from the sample. Sampling took place over 5 weekly sampling occasions in spring and early summer (except that sampling on ShirleyLakeRd in 2019 was extended by two weeks for a total of 7 occasions). Individuals and their sex were identified from microsatellite genotypes to 15 loci to generate encounter histories. "StudyAreas.csv" lists the study area-specific files with trap locations ("traps_...csv") and bear encounter histories ("caps_...txt") and summarizes data collection results. Also provided in this file are the year of sampling, the forest region sampled (boreal or Great Lakes St. Lawrence ["GLSL"; Rowe 1972]), and the Wildlife Landscape Zone (WLZ) i.e. management zone sampled. "traps...csv" files provide numeric labels (detectorID) and x- and y-coordinates of barbed wire hair corrals on each study area. Coordinate units are UTMs (datum = NAD83; longitude zone is included in the filename after "Z"). Wherever temporal sampling effort varied among sampling occasions, week-specific sampling effort in days is provided as additional columns in traps files. These additional columns are usually recognized by the 'secr' R package and included as 'usage' information when traps and capthist objects are created. "caps....txt" files are individual-specific encounter histories. Columns are (1) "session", which references the study area, (2) "indiv": an individual identifier for different bears, (3) "ocn" is the temporal sampling occasion, (4) "trap": is an identifier for a sampling location (coordinates in corresponding "traps...csv" file), and "sex" ("fem" or "mal"). All "caps" and "traps" files include the study area name and the year of sampling in the file name to ensure encounter histories can be matched to the appropriate traps. Session names are unique across study area and year-specific data sets. Session names are study area names except for study areas sampled in more than one year. For these study areas, we appended the year of sampling to the study area name for all years other than the first year. E.g. for the study area named "Sowden", the session name for 2017 data is "Sowden", and for data from subsequent years the session names are "Sowden2018", and "Sowden2019". **Updates to this data set:** Hair samples are collected from additional study areas (or by resampling study areas) annually. Additional "caps" and "traps" files will be added, and the list of study areas will be updated, as more spatially explicit capture-recapture data become available. **Change log:** June 19, 2024. The file "traps_81Rd_2017_Z16.csv" was replaced. This file erroneously duplicated a list of study areas, so it was replaced with the appropriate file of trap locations. ## Code/Software An Example R script for importing study-area specific data and formatting them as a capthist object is provided here [https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5735180](https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5735180)