Relating polar bears killed, human presence, and ice conditions in Svalbard 1987–2019
Conflicts between humans and polar bears have been predicted to increase as polar bear prime habitat, sea ice, is decreasing. In Svalbard, a strict protection and control schemes have secured near complete records of bears killed and found dead since 1987. We analyzed the trend in the number of kill...
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10037/30910 https://doi.org/10.3389/fcosc.2023.1187527 |
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ftunivtroemsoe:oai:munin.uit.no:10037/30910 2023-10-09T21:55:53+02:00 Relating polar bears killed, human presence, and ice conditions in Svalbard 1987–2019 Vongraven, Dag Amstrup, S.C. McDonald, T.L. Mitchell, J. Yoccoz, Nigel 2023-07-28 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/30910 https://doi.org/10.3389/fcosc.2023.1187527 eng eng Frontiers Media Frontiers in Conservation Science Vongraven, Amstrup, McDonald, Mitchell, Yoccoz. Relating polar bears killed, human presence, and ice conditions in Svalbard 1987–2019. Frontiers in Conservation Science. 2023;4:1-13 FRIDAID 2172694 doi:10.3389/fcosc.2023.1187527 2673-611X https://hdl.handle.net/10037/30910 Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) openAccess Copyright 2023 The Author(s) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 Journal article Tidsskriftartikkel Peer reviewed publishedVersion 2023 ftunivtroemsoe https://doi.org/10.3389/fcosc.2023.1187527 2023-09-13T23:07:42Z Conflicts between humans and polar bears have been predicted to increase as polar bear prime habitat, sea ice, is decreasing. In Svalbard, a strict protection and control schemes have secured near complete records of bears killed and found dead since 1987. We analyzed the trend in the number of kills and related this to human visitation to the archipelago. We found a slight decrease in the number of kills in the period 1987-2019, and a decrease in per capita number of kills when monthly kills were compared to the monthly number of visitors disembarking in the main settlement. We then used a discrete choice resource selection model to assess whether polar bear kill events are related to attributes of the kill sites and environmental conditions at the time. We divided Svalbard in four sectors, North, East, South, and West, and monthly average ice cover was calculated in 25-km rings around Svalbard, rings that were further delineated by the four sectors. We found that the odds of a kill was greater along the shoreline, and that the odds would be reduced by 50% when moving only 900 m from the shoreline when all sectors were included. Distance from other covariates like settlements, trapper’s cabins, and landing sites for tourists did for the most part not have a significant impact on the odds of a kill. Sectorwise, ice cover had no significant impact on the odds for a kill. The decreasing trend in kills of polar bears might partly be explained by the success of strict protection and management regimes of Svalbard wilderness. Article in Journal/Newspaper Sea ice Svalbard University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive Svalbard Frontiers in Conservation Science 4 |
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Open Polar |
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University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive |
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ftunivtroemsoe |
language |
English |
description |
Conflicts between humans and polar bears have been predicted to increase as polar bear prime habitat, sea ice, is decreasing. In Svalbard, a strict protection and control schemes have secured near complete records of bears killed and found dead since 1987. We analyzed the trend in the number of kills and related this to human visitation to the archipelago. We found a slight decrease in the number of kills in the period 1987-2019, and a decrease in per capita number of kills when monthly kills were compared to the monthly number of visitors disembarking in the main settlement. We then used a discrete choice resource selection model to assess whether polar bear kill events are related to attributes of the kill sites and environmental conditions at the time. We divided Svalbard in four sectors, North, East, South, and West, and monthly average ice cover was calculated in 25-km rings around Svalbard, rings that were further delineated by the four sectors. We found that the odds of a kill was greater along the shoreline, and that the odds would be reduced by 50% when moving only 900 m from the shoreline when all sectors were included. Distance from other covariates like settlements, trapper’s cabins, and landing sites for tourists did for the most part not have a significant impact on the odds of a kill. Sectorwise, ice cover had no significant impact on the odds for a kill. The decreasing trend in kills of polar bears might partly be explained by the success of strict protection and management regimes of Svalbard wilderness. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Vongraven, Dag Amstrup, S.C. McDonald, T.L. Mitchell, J. Yoccoz, Nigel |
spellingShingle |
Vongraven, Dag Amstrup, S.C. McDonald, T.L. Mitchell, J. Yoccoz, Nigel Relating polar bears killed, human presence, and ice conditions in Svalbard 1987–2019 |
author_facet |
Vongraven, Dag Amstrup, S.C. McDonald, T.L. Mitchell, J. Yoccoz, Nigel |
author_sort |
Vongraven, Dag |
title |
Relating polar bears killed, human presence, and ice conditions in Svalbard 1987–2019 |
title_short |
Relating polar bears killed, human presence, and ice conditions in Svalbard 1987–2019 |
title_full |
Relating polar bears killed, human presence, and ice conditions in Svalbard 1987–2019 |
title_fullStr |
Relating polar bears killed, human presence, and ice conditions in Svalbard 1987–2019 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Relating polar bears killed, human presence, and ice conditions in Svalbard 1987–2019 |
title_sort |
relating polar bears killed, human presence, and ice conditions in svalbard 1987–2019 |
publisher |
Frontiers Media |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10037/30910 https://doi.org/10.3389/fcosc.2023.1187527 |
geographic |
Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Svalbard |
genre |
Sea ice Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Sea ice Svalbard |
op_relation |
Frontiers in Conservation Science Vongraven, Amstrup, McDonald, Mitchell, Yoccoz. Relating polar bears killed, human presence, and ice conditions in Svalbard 1987–2019. Frontiers in Conservation Science. 2023;4:1-13 FRIDAID 2172694 doi:10.3389/fcosc.2023.1187527 2673-611X https://hdl.handle.net/10037/30910 |
op_rights |
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) openAccess Copyright 2023 The Author(s) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fcosc.2023.1187527 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Conservation Science |
container_volume |
4 |
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1779320095429885952 |