Tomas A. Carlo Todd K. Fuller Stephen DeStefano John F. Organ Nereyda Falconi 2022 <p>Bears, Ursidae, are considered omnivores, except for giant pandas&nbsp;Ailuropoda melanoleuca&nbsp;and polar bears&nbsp;Ursus maritimus. However, omnivory includes a wide range of dietary variation and trophic positions, making bear dietary ecology unclear. We inferred bear trophic positions from δ¹⁵N (‰) values and examined their correlation with diets reported in the literature, including frequency of human–bear conflicts (livestock predation and crop damage incidents). Overall,&nbsp;15N signatures were consistent with diet estimates. Bear species with higher&nbsp;¹⁵N signatures differed more from each other, including cases of large regional intraspecific variance, than bear species with lower&nbsp;¹⁵N signatures. Bear trophic position and frequency of reports of human–bear conflicts were uncorrelated, suggesting that livestock predation by bears is an opportunistic behaviour rather than a response to food availability dynamics.</p> application/pdf 10.1111/mam.12285 en Wiley Bear diets and human-bear conflicts: Insights from isotopic ecology article