Several large carnivore populations are recovering former ranges, and it is important to understand interspecific interactions between overlapping species. In Scandinavia, recent research has reported that brown bear presence influences gray wolf habitat selection and kill rates. Here, we characterized the temporal use of a common prey resource by sympatric wolves and bears and described individual and seasonal variation in their direct and/or indirect interactions. Most bear–wolf interactions were indirect, via bear scavenging of wolf kills. Bears used >50% of wolf kills, whereas we did not record any wolf visit at bear kills. Adult and subadult bears visited wolf kills, but female bears with cubs of the year, the most vulnerable age class to conspecifics and other predators, did not. Wolf and bear kill rates peaked in early summer, when both targeted neonate moose calves, which coincided with a reduction in bear scavenging rate. Some bears were highly predatory and some did not kill any calf. Individual and age-class variation (in bear predation and scavenging patterns) and seasonality (in bear scavenging patterns and main prey availability of both wolves and bears) could mediate coexistence of these apex predators. Similar processes likely occur in other ecosystems with varying carnivore assemblages.

中文翻译：

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狼和熊共存的潜在驱动因素是掠夺行为，清除和季节性猎物可利用性的个体差异

几个大型食肉动物种群正在恢复以前的范围，了解重叠物种之间的种间相互作用非常重要。在斯堪的纳维亚半岛，最近的研究报道了棕熊的存在会影响灰太狼的栖息地选择和杀灭率。在这里，我们描述了同伴狼和熊对共同猎物资源的暂时使用，并描述了它们直接和/或间接相互作用中的个体和季节性变化。大多数熊与狼之间的互动是间接的，通过熊对狼的杀戮进行清除。熊使用了超过50％的狼杀害，而我们没有记录到熊杀害时有狼来访。成年和亚成年熊拜访了狼人，但当年有幼崽的母熊是同种动物和其他捕食者中最脆弱的年龄段，但没有。狼和熊的杀伤率在初夏达到最高，这两个目标都针对新生的驼鹿犊牛，这与降低熊的清除率相吻合。一些熊是高度掠食性的，有些则没有杀死任何小牛。个体和年龄组的变化（在熊的捕食和清除方式中）和季节性（在熊的清除方式和狼和熊的主要猎物可利用性）中可以介导这些先天性掠食者的共存。在食肉动物种类不同的其他生态系统中也可能发生类似的过程。