RUMIKO NAKASHITA, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Japan

Understanding the drivers of bear occurrences and damage is essential for developing effective conflict prevention strategies. To clarify what attracts captured individuals to human settlements, we reconstructed individual dietary histories of Asiatic black bears (Ursus thibetanus) captured in Nagano Prefecture, Japan, and examined their relationships with damage incidents. Hair samples were analyzed as sequential segments, and carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios (δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N) were used to assess temporal dietary patterns at the individual level. Results indicated that dietary variation was more pronounced among individuals than among regions. In particular, individuals associated with maize damage showed elevated δ¹³C values, whereas individuals suspected of fish farm damage or food waste use exhibited simultaneous elevations in both δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N, suggesting reliance on anthropogenic food resources. Such isotopic characteristics were more frequently observed in certain areas. For a subset of individ