| |
All Conservation Articles
Dr. Ian Stirling, the best known polar bear scientist in the world, compresses the major new discoveries of the last 40 years of research on this iconic Arctic mammal into a major new, easily readable, and scientifically comprehensive book about the ecology and natural history of polar bears. In an accessible non-technical style, he explains how polar bears evolved, how researchers study them, aspects of their behavior, how they prey and live on various marine mammals for their very survival, how the seals and bears have evolved in response to each other, and how, specifically, they have come to threatened by climate warming. In a separate chapter, he explains why the polar bears in Hudson Bay have become so important to our understanding of the species, how Churchill became "The Polar Bear Capital of the World".
In this paper the authors tested the ability to use stable isotope analysis (by plucking hair from captured bears) to quantify garbage in bear diet. They contrasted hairs taken from spring harvested bears and bear captures in Missoula, Montana in 2009. Results: 1. Stable isotopes seem promising for actually identifying garbage in diet, but there are still some issues to be worked out; 2. Garbage was not a significant food source for bears around Missoula in 2008.
The book follows the PBS TV crew as they travel more than 4,000 miles around Alaska, and it details the hardships and challenges that come with filming a nature documentary. Packed with gorgeous color photographs of bears in their natural habitats, Bears of the Last Frontier is a keepsake for anyone interested in wildlife conservation.
Animal collisions pose a risk to wildlife, people and their property. Help us to reduce the staggering number of incidents by following these guidelines.........
During 1995–2006 research projects in Florida and Kentucky, USA, the authors captured 191 (72 F:119 M) American black bears (Ursus americanus) 251 times using modified Aldrich spring-activated snares. The modifications the authors describe is an improvement to existing snaring methods and are applicable for any snare trigger and for any species trapped using an anchored foot snare.
In Alberta, Canada, high rates of human-caused mortality threaten the long-term persistence of grizzly bears. To reduce this threat, the provincial grizzly bear recovery team suggested that core conservation areas of at least 2,400 km2 be delineated for each of seven population units where open access road density is limited to 0.6 km/km2 and buffered by secondary conservation areas where road density is limited to 1.2 km/km2.
This research project aimed to identify why communities struggle to meet the "Bear Smart" standards and to provide recommendations on how the managing agency can more effectively implement the program.
Keynotes address on polar bear-human conflict presented at 3rd International Bear-People Conflicts Workshop, Canmore, Alberta, Canada, November, 2009.
Get Bear Smart partnered with the Habitat Improvement Team (HIT) to plant another 100 mountain-ash trees (sorbus sitchensis) on Whistler Mountain. This brings the total number of mountain-ash planted on Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains in the past two years to over 350.
Occasionally, orphaned grizzly bear and, especially, black bear cubs are rescued from the wild and placed in wildlife rescue centres.
Diversionary feeding of black bears (Ursus americanus) around campgrounds and residential areas has received little study because of concerns it might create nuisance bears and jeopardize public safety. To evaluate those concerns and assess its effectiveness in mitigating human-bear conflict, we studied diversionary feeding at a U. S. Forest Service campground/residential complex that had been a perennial focus of human-bear conflict.
The small and isolated population of brown bears (Ursus arctos marsicanus) in the Central Apennines, Italy, has been protected since the establishment of the National Park of Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise in 1923, but little active management has been implemented during the past decades to ensure effective conservation of this population. Being almost exclusively distributed within the National Park and its immediate surrounding mountains, the Apennine brown bear population suffered high human-caused mortality in the last 3 decades, but no reliable estimates of its size, trends, and vital statistics have ever been produced. Given the paucity of
information available at the international level, the authors have critically reviewed the status of the Apennine brown bear population and have summarized data and information concerning past management.
Twenty-six years of cooperative, careful management and monitoring by state, federal, tribal, county, and non-governmental partners led to the recovery of the Yellowstone grizzly bear population and its removal from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife in April 2007. Robust population growth, cooperative management of mortality and habitat, widespread public support for grizzly bear recovery, and the development of a comprehensive Conservation Strategy brought the Yellowstone grizzly bear population to the point where delisting was appropriate. State wildlife agencies, national parks, national forests, and the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team led by the U.S. Geological Survey worked together to bring the Yellowstone grizzly bear population back from the brink of extinction. It is heartening to know these agencies will continue to manage and monitor the bear and its habitat in perpetuity.
A study was undertaken to determine public perceptions of the sustainability of grizzly bear populations, perceived threats to grizzly bear populations, knowledge of grizzly bear biology and ecology, attitudes toward grizzly bears, preferences related to grizzly bear management, and views on public involvement in grizzly bear management.
This report discusses a variety of fertility control techniques and makes recommendations for the most effective methods.
People are increasingly moving into black bear (Ursus americanus) habitat, seeing more bears, and often feeding them intentionally or unintentionally. There are many untested beliefs about the effects this supplemental feeding has on bear behavior, food preferences, natural foraging activities, relations with humans, and longevity. This study compares bears receiving supplemental food with those in a nearby study area where bears were not supplementally fed (Rogers 1987;Rogers, unpublished data).
This article summarizes recommendations from the 5th IUCN World Parks Congress workshop held in Durban, South Africa in September of 2004, and introduces the other articles in this special issue of Human Dimensions of Wildlife.
The increasing popularity of brown bear (Ursus arctos) viewing at Brooks River in Katmai National Park, Alaska has resulted in overcrowded facilities, increasing bear-human conflicts, displacement of bears from important habitats, and degradation of cultural resources. To partially address these issues, the National Park Service (NPS) constructed a 300-m-long elevated boardwalk with interconnected viewing platforms in August 2000. To determine what effects the new structures might have on individual bears, we observed bear movements and behaviors before and after construction.
Land managers often are responsible for the maintenance of species diversity and resilience. This requires knowledge of ecosystem dynamics over decades and centuries. Resource-driven (bottom-up) models have guided early thought on managing species and ecosystems. Under this paradigm, carnivores have little ecological value, and throughout the 20th Century carnivore management strategies (often extirpation) have reflected that concept. An alternative hypothesis, however, states that herbivores reduce the biomass of plants, but in turn, the biomass of herbivores is checked by the presence of carnivores. As such, carnivores have great ecological value. Their predation activities create impacts that ripple downward through the trophic levels of an ecosystem. Here we discuss some potential pathways through which carnivores contribute to ecosystem processes and species diversity. The subtleties of these interactions have strong implications for management strategies of carnivores. Without considering these indirect impacts, short-sighted management strategies to reduce carnivores might cause extensive and long-term changes in ecosystem structure and function.
The bears are one of the most diverse groups of large mammals. Bears are well-known and have a positive image for much of the public. They occupy an extremely wide range of habitats including lowland tropical rain forest along the equator, both coniferous and deciduous forests, prairie grasslands, desert steppe, coastal rainforest, arctic tundra, and alpine talus slopes. They are opportunistic omnivores whose diet varies from plant foliage, roots, and fruits; insect adults, larvae, and eggs; animal matter from carrion; animal matter from predation; and fish. Their dentition and digestive system reflects this varied diet. The eight bear species currently exist in more than 60 countries on four continents. Unfortunately, bear numbers and range are declining in most areas of their range. Some species have been reduced in numbers by 50% or more in the past 100 years. Many populations are fragmented and thus more vulnerable, and human activity continues to intrude into bear habitat. The time for conservation action is growing short for many species and it is likely that in the next 20 years, many isolated bear populations will go extinct forever.
|
|
|
