Density and distribution of a brown bear (Ursus arctos) population within the Caucasus biodiversity hotspot

Population declines and extirpations of large mammalian carnivores are major concerns for global biodiversity conservation. Many large carnivores are vulnerable to conflict with humans and attract conservation attention for their flagship appeal and ecological importance. Coexisting with carnivores...

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Published in:Journal of Mammalogy
Main Authors: A. Cole Burton, Jason T. Fisher, Peter Adriaens, Jo Treweek, David Paetkau, Marten Wikstrom, Andrew Callender, Ruben Vardanyan, Armen Stepanyan
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: American Society of Mammalogists 2018
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyy081
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spelling ftbioone:10.1093/jmammal/gyy081 2024-06-02T08:15:36+00:00 Density and distribution of a brown bear (Ursus arctos) population within the Caucasus biodiversity hotspot A. Cole Burton Jason T. Fisher Peter Adriaens Jo Treweek David Paetkau Marten Wikstrom Andrew Callender Ruben Vardanyan Armen Stepanyan A. Cole Burton Jason T. Fisher Peter Adriaens Jo Treweek David Paetkau Marten Wikstrom Andrew Callender Ruben Vardanyan Armen Stepanyan world 2018-07-12 text/HTML https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyy081 en eng American Society of Mammalogists doi:10.1093/jmammal/gyy081 All rights reserved. https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyy081 Text 2018 ftbioone https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyy081 2024-05-07T00:55:29Z Population declines and extirpations of large mammalian carnivores are major concerns for global biodiversity conservation. Many large carnivores are vulnerable to conflict with humans and attract conservation attention for their flagship appeal and ecological importance. Coexisting with carnivores requires an understanding of carnivore distribution and abundance relative to human activities and disturbances. Such knowledge is often hindered by the rare and elusive nature of carnivores and the lack of systematic ecological surveys in biodiverse regions facing high levels of threat. The Caucasus Ecoregion is one such biodiversity hotspot harboring several threatened mammal species for which there is a paucity of reliable data, including brown bears (Ursus arctos). Caucasus brown bear populations have declined significantly from historical times and may be isolated and vulnerable to disturbance from development activities such as mining, as well as increasing hunting pressure. To inform land-use planning and bear conservation in the Caucasus Ecoregion, we conducted systematic surveys in May–October 2015 in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains within the Vayots Dzor region of Armenia. We used noninvasive genetic sampling, camera trapping, and statistical models that account for imperfect detection to estimate density and distribution of the bear population in the 1,000-km2 study area. Across 34 sampling sites, we obtained 3,163 camera-trap photos of brown bears and genotyped 28 individual bears (7 males and 21 females). Spatially explicit capture-recapture models revealed an unexpectedly high density of bears (59.4/1,000 km2; females = 44.6, 95% confidence interval, CI = 25.4–78.4; males = 14.8, 95% CI = 6.6–34.0), and multi-method occupancy models indicated that bears were distributed across most of the study area (ψ = 0.85; SE = 0.07). These results provide robust evidence that a significant population of brown bears persists in Armenia's Vayots Dzor region, despite a history of hunting and habitat loss that ... Text Ursus arctos BioOne Online Journals Journal of Mammalogy 99 5 1249 1260
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description Population declines and extirpations of large mammalian carnivores are major concerns for global biodiversity conservation. Many large carnivores are vulnerable to conflict with humans and attract conservation attention for their flagship appeal and ecological importance. Coexisting with carnivores requires an understanding of carnivore distribution and abundance relative to human activities and disturbances. Such knowledge is often hindered by the rare and elusive nature of carnivores and the lack of systematic ecological surveys in biodiverse regions facing high levels of threat. The Caucasus Ecoregion is one such biodiversity hotspot harboring several threatened mammal species for which there is a paucity of reliable data, including brown bears (Ursus arctos). Caucasus brown bear populations have declined significantly from historical times and may be isolated and vulnerable to disturbance from development activities such as mining, as well as increasing hunting pressure. To inform land-use planning and bear conservation in the Caucasus Ecoregion, we conducted systematic surveys in May–October 2015 in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains within the Vayots Dzor region of Armenia. We used noninvasive genetic sampling, camera trapping, and statistical models that account for imperfect detection to estimate density and distribution of the bear population in the 1,000-km2 study area. Across 34 sampling sites, we obtained 3,163 camera-trap photos of brown bears and genotyped 28 individual bears (7 males and 21 females). Spatially explicit capture-recapture models revealed an unexpectedly high density of bears (59.4/1,000 km2; females = 44.6, 95% confidence interval, CI = 25.4–78.4; males = 14.8, 95% CI = 6.6–34.0), and multi-method occupancy models indicated that bears were distributed across most of the study area (ψ = 0.85; SE = 0.07). These results provide robust evidence that a significant population of brown bears persists in Armenia's Vayots Dzor region, despite a history of hunting and habitat loss that ...
author2 A. Cole Burton
Jason T. Fisher
Peter Adriaens
Jo Treweek
David Paetkau
Marten Wikstrom
Andrew Callender
Ruben Vardanyan
Armen Stepanyan
format Text
author A. Cole Burton
Jason T. Fisher
Peter Adriaens
Jo Treweek
David Paetkau
Marten Wikstrom
Andrew Callender
Ruben Vardanyan
Armen Stepanyan
spellingShingle A. Cole Burton
Jason T. Fisher
Peter Adriaens
Jo Treweek
David Paetkau
Marten Wikstrom
Andrew Callender
Ruben Vardanyan
Armen Stepanyan
Density and distribution of a brown bear (Ursus arctos) population within the Caucasus biodiversity hotspot
author_facet A. Cole Burton
Jason T. Fisher
Peter Adriaens
Jo Treweek
David Paetkau
Marten Wikstrom
Andrew Callender
Ruben Vardanyan
Armen Stepanyan
author_sort A. Cole Burton
title Density and distribution of a brown bear (Ursus arctos) population within the Caucasus biodiversity hotspot
title_short Density and distribution of a brown bear (Ursus arctos) population within the Caucasus biodiversity hotspot
title_full Density and distribution of a brown bear (Ursus arctos) population within the Caucasus biodiversity hotspot
title_fullStr Density and distribution of a brown bear (Ursus arctos) population within the Caucasus biodiversity hotspot
title_full_unstemmed Density and distribution of a brown bear (Ursus arctos) population within the Caucasus biodiversity hotspot
title_sort density and distribution of a brown bear (ursus arctos) population within the caucasus biodiversity hotspot
publisher American Society of Mammalogists
publishDate 2018
url https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyy081
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genre_facet Ursus arctos
op_source https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyy081
op_relation doi:10.1093/jmammal/gyy081
op_rights All rights reserved.
op_doi https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyy081
container_title Journal of Mammalogy
container_volume 99
container_issue 5
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