Navigating human landscapes with offspring: female bears consume human subsidies but avoid risk through spatiotemporal landscape selection

Human‐altered landscapes provide predictable and energy‐rich food subsidies but also create risk from increased human conflict and heightened intra‐specific interactions. This tradeoff is particularly acute for reproductive females, who must balance higher energetic demands with increased vulnerability of offspring. Individuals can, however, minimize risk by spatially and temporally adjusting their use areas. American black bears Ursus americanus routinely use human landscapes and the food subsidies therein. However, it is unknown how individuals spatially and temporally navigate human landscapes to access human subsidies, particularly for females with offspring. We integrated stable isotope analysis and GPS‐collar data from 38 female black bears in Wisconsin to link diet, home‐range composition, and fine‐scale habitat selection. Black bear home ranges were predominantly composed of natural cover; nevertheless, they consumed large amounts of human food (23–48% of diet). Black bear selection of human‐altered landscapes was not associated with the amounts of human subsidies consumed but strongly influenced by seasonal and diel cycles. Specifically, all females showed weaker avoidance of human‐altered areas at night, whereas solitary females, but not females with cubs, increased selection for croplands during late summer. This study provides novel evidence that female black bears can exploit human subsidies while limiting risk exposure through spatial and temporal behavior, but this flexibility is constrained by maternal status. These findings show that wildlife responses to human‐altered landscapes cannot be understood solely from diet or habitat use. Conservation strategies should account for temporal risk, resource phenology, and life‐history when mitigating conflict and anticipating ecological consequences of anthropogenic food use.