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...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Global Ecology and Conservation
Main Authors: Slaven Reljic, Klemen Jerina, Erlend B. Nilsen, Djuro Huber, Josip Kusak, Marko Jonozovic, John D.C. Linnell
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