Challenges for transboundary management of a European brown bear population
Pan-European legislation stimulates international cooperation to overarching challenges of large carnivore management across jurisdictions. We present an analysis for current transboundary brown bear (Ursus arctos) population management in Croatia and Slovenia. Slovenia's bear management attemp...
Published in: | Global Ecology and Conservation |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Elsevier
2018
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2018.e00488 https://doaj.org/article/78c949ec850049b6a2b9f8f363347436 |
id |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:78c949ec850049b6a2b9f8f363347436 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:78c949ec850049b6a2b9f8f363347436 2023-05-15T18:41:57+02:00 Challenges for transboundary management of a European brown bear population Slaven Reljic Klemen Jerina Erlend B. Nilsen Djuro Huber Josip Kusak Marko Jonozovic John D.C. Linnell 2018-10-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2018.e00488 https://doaj.org/article/78c949ec850049b6a2b9f8f363347436 EN eng Elsevier http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989418302282 https://doaj.org/toc/2351-9894 2351-9894 doi:10.1016/j.gecco.2018.e00488 https://doaj.org/article/78c949ec850049b6a2b9f8f363347436 Global Ecology and Conservation, Vol 16, Iss , Pp - (2018) Ecology QH540-549.5 article 2018 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2018.e00488 2022-12-31T03:12:01Z Pan-European legislation stimulates international cooperation to overarching challenges of large carnivore management across jurisdictions. We present an analysis for current transboundary brown bear (Ursus arctos) population management in Croatia and Slovenia. Slovenia's bear management attempts aimed to reduce human-bear conflicts, by limiting the size and distribution of the bear population, with a relatively frequent use of intervention shooting. In contrast, fewer conflicts occur in Croatia and bears have been traditionally managed as a valuable game species, with heavily male-biased trophy hunting. On average 9% of the estimated bear population was removed annually in Croatia and 18% in Slovenia for the years 2005–2010. In Croatia, a greater proportion of adult males were shot than in Slovenia (80% vs 47% of total hunted males, respectively). We model a scenario for the shared panmictic population and two scenarios assuming that Croatian and Slovenian bear populations were spatially closed. When isolated, each countries' policies lead to potentially undesired management directions. The Slovenian bear population showed a stable or slightly decreasing trend that maintained its sex and age structure, while the Croatian bear population showed an increase in size but with a possible lack of older male bear. The panmictic scenario showed that different management policies buffered each other out with the overall combined population trend being slightly increasing with a sustained age/sex structure. The recent geopolitical refugee crisis has led to the partial erection of border security fencing between the two countries. Our data illustrate how the impacts of constructed fencing put in place to address border security issues may also impact the fate of Europe's bear populations and other wildlife species that use shared ecosystems. Keywords: brown bear (Ursus arctos), Croatia, Slovenia, Modelling, Population dynamics, Transboundary management Article in Journal/Newspaper Ursus arctos Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Global Ecology and Conservation 16 e00488 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Ecology QH540-549.5 |
spellingShingle |
Ecology QH540-549.5 Slaven Reljic Klemen Jerina Erlend B. Nilsen Djuro Huber Josip Kusak Marko Jonozovic John D.C. Linnell Challenges for transboundary management of a European brown bear population |
topic_facet |
Ecology QH540-549.5 |
description |
Pan-European legislation stimulates international cooperation to overarching challenges of large carnivore management across jurisdictions. We present an analysis for current transboundary brown bear (Ursus arctos) population management in Croatia and Slovenia. Slovenia's bear management attempts aimed to reduce human-bear conflicts, by limiting the size and distribution of the bear population, with a relatively frequent use of intervention shooting. In contrast, fewer conflicts occur in Croatia and bears have been traditionally managed as a valuable game species, with heavily male-biased trophy hunting. On average 9% of the estimated bear population was removed annually in Croatia and 18% in Slovenia for the years 2005–2010. In Croatia, a greater proportion of adult males were shot than in Slovenia (80% vs 47% of total hunted males, respectively). We model a scenario for the shared panmictic population and two scenarios assuming that Croatian and Slovenian bear populations were spatially closed. When isolated, each countries' policies lead to potentially undesired management directions. The Slovenian bear population showed a stable or slightly decreasing trend that maintained its sex and age structure, while the Croatian bear population showed an increase in size but with a possible lack of older male bear. The panmictic scenario showed that different management policies buffered each other out with the overall combined population trend being slightly increasing with a sustained age/sex structure. The recent geopolitical refugee crisis has led to the partial erection of border security fencing between the two countries. Our data illustrate how the impacts of constructed fencing put in place to address border security issues may also impact the fate of Europe's bear populations and other wildlife species that use shared ecosystems. Keywords: brown bear (Ursus arctos), Croatia, Slovenia, Modelling, Population dynamics, Transboundary management |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Slaven Reljic Klemen Jerina Erlend B. Nilsen Djuro Huber Josip Kusak Marko Jonozovic John D.C. Linnell |
author_facet |
Slaven Reljic Klemen Jerina Erlend B. Nilsen Djuro Huber Josip Kusak Marko Jonozovic John D.C. Linnell |
author_sort |
Slaven Reljic |
title |
Challenges for transboundary management of a European brown bear population |
title_short |
Challenges for transboundary management of a European brown bear population |
title_full |
Challenges for transboundary management of a European brown bear population |
title_fullStr |
Challenges for transboundary management of a European brown bear population |
title_full_unstemmed |
Challenges for transboundary management of a European brown bear population |
title_sort |
challenges for transboundary management of a european brown bear population |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2018.e00488 https://doaj.org/article/78c949ec850049b6a2b9f8f363347436 |
genre |
Ursus arctos |
genre_facet |
Ursus arctos |
op_source |
Global Ecology and Conservation, Vol 16, Iss , Pp - (2018) |
op_relation |
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989418302282 https://doaj.org/toc/2351-9894 2351-9894 doi:10.1016/j.gecco.2018.e00488 https://doaj.org/article/78c949ec850049b6a2b9f8f363347436 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2018.e00488 |
container_title |
Global Ecology and Conservation |
container_volume |
16 |
container_start_page |
e00488 |
_version_ |
1766231522345484288 |