Dynamics of a grizzly bear population during a period of industrial resource extraction. I. Density and age–sex composition

1989 ◽  
Vol 67 (8) ◽  
pp. 1856-1860 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce N. McLellan

The characteristics of a grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) population in southeastern British Columbia were studied between 1979 and 1986, a period of timber harvest, gas exploration, and outdoor recreation, including grizzly hunting. I investigated the hypothesis that collectively these activities were detrimental to the grizzly population. I predicted a low density of bears compared with other interior populations and (or) a negative rate of increase. The sex ratio of cubs and yearlings captured was 50:50 and they represented 21.5 and 17.5% of the population, respectively. Although more adult males than adult females were captured, I estimated that there were more adult females than males in the population. I used two methods of population estimation and assumed saturation trapping : one method was based on home range characteristics and the other on the proportion of aerial locations in the study area. The average estimated bear density was 6.4/100 km2, which was high for an interior population, and increased from approximately 5.7/100 km2 in 1981 to 8.0/100 km2 in 1986, for an average annual observed rate of increase of r = 0.07.

1989 ◽  
Vol 67 (8) ◽  
pp. 1865-1868 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce N. McLellan

Reproductive parameters and rate of increase were estimated for a grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) population in southeastern British Columbia during a period of timber harvest and gas exploration, 1979–1987.I hypothesized that these activities would be detrimental to the population and predicted a negative rate of increase. There was an average of 2.26 cubs in 31 litters. The average of nine interbirth intervals was 2.67 years, and the average age at which five females produced their first litter was 6 years. The population's annual reproductive rate calculated by three methods averaged 0.86 cubs per adult female. By iteration of the Lotka equation, the best estimate of the exponential rate of increase was 0.081. Industrial activities did not appear to have a significant detrimental effect on the grizzly bear population in the Flathead Valley during the period of study but the roads built provided easy access for hunters and poachers.


1989 ◽  
Vol 67 (8) ◽  
pp. 1861-1864 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce N. McLellan

The causes and rates of grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) mortality in a radio-marked population in southeastern British Columbia were studied for 9 years during a period of timber harvest, gas exploration, and outdoor recreation, including grizzly hunting. During 110 bear-years of radio tracking 55 radio-collared grizzly bears and their dependent offspring, one bear with a functioning radio collar died from natural causes and eight others from human intervention; in addition, four dependent offspring were thought to have died. Excluding trap-related mortalities, the best estimate for the annual survival rates were as follows: 0.82 for cubs, 0.88 for yearlings, 0.93 for subadults, and 0.93 for adults. Of the eight bears killed by human intervention, two were killed by legal harvest, five by illegal harvest (one of these in a trap), and one was killed in a trap by another bear. No mortalities were directly attributable to industrial activities. Resource extraction industries do contribute to grizzly bear mortality indirectly through the construction of roads, which provide easy access to hunters, poachers, and settlers. Road access planning and postoperational control of vehicles are recommended management actions.


2014 ◽  
Vol 128 (3) ◽  
pp. 223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Graham ◽  
Gordon B. Stenhouse

An understanding of the natural history of the Grizzly Bear (Ursus arctos) is important for recovery planning. We present data on home range size, movements and denning chronology collected using Global Positioning System (GPS) collars on Grizzly Bears in west-central Alberta. Mean annual kernel estimates for adult (1034 ± 656 (SD) km2) and subadult (1298 ± 1207 km2) males were larger than those for females with cubs of the year (213 ± 212 km2) and lone adult females (337 ± 176 km2) but not different from sub-adult females, females with yearlings, or females with ≥ 2-yr old cubs (P > 0.05). Mean rates of movement among female age–reproductive classes were different from each other (Z9 < 2.70, P > 0.05) but not different from sub-adult males (Z9 < 2.70, P > 0.05). Rates of movement of adult males were significantly different only from those of females with cubs of the year (Z9 = 3.94, P = 0.001). The greatest amount of movement occurred in June and the least in October. Bears traveled fastest in the morning and evening and slowest at night. Pregnant females had the longest denning period (175 days, ± 16 days SD). No difference was detected in denning duration among the remaining five age–sex–reproductive classes (P > 0.05). GPS collars provided large location datasets from which accurate home range estimates, hourly movement rates, and precise denning dates were determined. Examining similarities and differences in the basic biology of Grizzly Bears from various locations will improve our understanding of the plasticity of this species and the potential impacts of habitat and climate change.


2013 ◽  
Vol 91 (3) ◽  
pp. 164-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.B. Van Daele ◽  
C.T. Robbins ◽  
B.X. Semmens ◽  
E.J. Ward ◽  
L.J. Van Daele ◽  
...  

The ecological role of large predators in North America continues to spark heated public debate. Although brown bears (Ursus arctos L., 1758) and the salmon (genus Oncorhynchus Suckley, 1861) they feed on have declined in many areas, the Kodiak archipelago is famous for large brown bears and abundant salmon. Salmon have generally been managed for maximum sustained yield in a fisheries sense, but those levels may be well below what is necessary for maximum ecosystem productivity. Consequently, we used stable isotopes and mercury accumulated in hair to estimate intake of salmon by Kodiak brown bears (Ursus arctos middendorffi Merriam, 1896). Salmon intake increased from subadult males (592 ± 325 kg·bear−1·year−1) to adult males (2788 ± 1929 kg·bear−1·year−1) and from subadult females (566 ± 360 kg·bear−1·year−1) to adult females (1364 ± 1261 kg·bear−1·year−1). Intake within each group increased 62% ± 23% as salmon escapement increased from ∼1 500 to ∼14 000 kg·bear−1·year−1. The estimated population of 2300 subadult and adult bears consumed 3.77 ± 0.16 million kg of salmon annually, a mass equal to ∼6% of the combined escapement and commercial harvest (57.6 million kg). Although bears consume a small portion of the total mass of adult salmon, perpetuation of dense populations of large bears requires ecosystem-based management of the meat resources and environments that produce such bears.


2003 ◽  
Vol 81 (2) ◽  
pp. 294-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip D McLoughlin ◽  
Mitchell K Taylor ◽  
H Dean Cluff ◽  
Robert J Gau ◽  
Robert Mulders ◽  
...  

Between May 1995 and June 1999, we equipped 81 barren-ground grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) with satellite radio collars within a study area of 235 000 km2, centred 400 km northeast of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. We used data from radiotelemetry to estimate survival rates, reproductive parameters, and the finite rate of increase of the population (λ). The annual survival rate of adult females was estimated at 0.979 (95% confidence intervals (CI) = 0.955–0.998), while the survival rate of adult males was 0.986 (95% CI = 0.942–1.0). The cub survival rate was 0.737 (95% CI = 0.600–0.844) and the yearling survival rate was 0.683 (95% CI = 0.514–0.821). Cub litter size averaged 2.23 (SE = 0.13, n = 35), while yearling litter size decreased to a mean of 1.86 (SE = 0.12, n = 35). The mean litter size of females with 2-year-olds was 1.85 (SE = 0.15, n = 20). The mean birth interval was 2.8 years (SE = 0.3 years, n = 17). The mean reproductive interval, which is calculated by excluding the loss of whole litters from the sample, was 3.9 years (SE = 0.4 years, n = 9). Mean litter size divided by mean birth interval yielded an annual natality rate of 0.81 cubs per adult female per year. The mean age at first parturition was 8.1 years (SE = 0.5 years, n = 10). We believe the population to be currently stable or slightly increasing (λ = 1.033, 95% CI = 1.008–1.064).


2010 ◽  
Vol 2010 ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. L. Eberhardt ◽  
J. M. Breiwick

Yellowstone's grizzlies (Ursus arctos) have been studied for more than 40 years. Radiotelemetry has been used to obtain estimates of the rate of increase of the population, with results reported by Schwartz et al. (2006). Counts of females with cubs-of-the-year “unduplicated” also provide an index of abundance and are the primary subject of this report. An exponential model was fitted ton=24such counts, using nonlinear leastsquares. Estimates of the rate of increase,r, were about 0.053. 95% confidence intervals, were obtained by several different methods, and all had lower limits substantially above zero, indicating that the population has been increasing steadily, in contrast to the results of Schwartz et al. (2006), which could not exclude a decreasing population. The grizzly data have been repeatedly mis-used in current literature for reasons explained here.


1994 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 360-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. L. Eberhardt ◽  
B. M. Blanchard ◽  
R. R. Knight

The trend of the Yellowstone grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) population was estimated using reproductive rates calculated from 22 individual females and survival rates from 400 female bear-years. The point estimate of the rate of increase was 4.6%, with 95% confidence limits of 0 and 9%. Caution in interpreting this result is advised because of possible biases in the population parameter estimates. The main prospects for improving present knowledge of the population trend appear to be further study of possible biases in the parameter estimates, and the continued use of radiotelemetry to increase the number of samples on which the estimates are based.


Zootaxa ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 2983 (1) ◽  
pp. 39 ◽  
Author(s):  
IVAN L. F. MAGALHÃES ◽  
ADALBERTO J. SANTOS

In this paper, M. yanomami n. sp., from Brazilian Amazonia, Chaetacis bandeirante n. sp., from Central Brazil, and the males of M. gaujoni Simon, 1897 and M. ruschii (Mello-Leitão, 1945) n. comb. , respectively from Ecuador and Brazil, are described and illustrated for the first time. An ontogenetic series of the last development stages of both sexes of Micrathena excavata (C. L. Koch, 1836) is illustrated and briefly described. Adult females are larger and have longer legs and larger abdomens than adult males. Probably females undergo at least one additional moult before adulthood, compared to males. Micrathena ornata Mello-Leitão, 1932 is considered a junior synonym of M. plana (C. L. Koch, 1836), and M. mastonota Mello-Leitão 1940 is synonymized with M. horrida (Taczanowski, 1873). Acrosoma ruschii Mello-Leitão, 1945 is revalidated, transferred to Micrathena and considered a senior synonym of M. cicuta Gonzaga & Santos, 2004. Chaetacis necopinata (Chickering, 1960) is recorded for Brazil for the first time. Chaetacis incisa (Walckenaer, 1841) is considered a nomen dubium.


1994 ◽  
Vol 72 (7) ◽  
pp. 1314-1324 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. G. Reid ◽  
T. E. Code ◽  
A. C. H. Reid ◽  
S. M. Herrero

Seasonal spacing patterns, home ranges, and movements of river otters (Lontra canadensis) were studied in boreal Alberta by means of radiotelemetry. Adult males occupied significantly larger annual home ranges than adult females. Males' ranges overlapped those of females and also each other's. In winter, home ranges of males shrank and showed less overlap. Otters often associated in groups, the core members typically being adult females with young, or adult males. Otters tended to be more solitary in winter. In winter, movement rates of all sex and age classes were similar, and much reduced for males compared with those in other seasons. These data indicated a strong limiting effect of winter ice on behaviour and dispersion. We tested the hypothesis that otters select water bodies in winter on the basis of the suitability of shoreline substrate and morphology for dens with access both to air and to water under ice. Intensity of selection was greatest in winter, with avoidance of gradually sloping shorelines of sand or gravel. Adults selected bog lakes with banked shores containing semi-aquatic mammal burrows, and lakes with beaver lodges. Subadults selected beaver-impounded streams. Apart from human harvest, winter habitats and food availability in such habitats are likely the two factors most strongly limiting otter density in boreal Alberta.


Behaviour ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 72 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 26-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Duncan

AbstractTime-budgets of adult and weaned sub-adult horses were studied in a small population of Camargue horses living in semi-liberty. The categories of activities used were: Standing resting, Lying flat, Lying up, Standing alert, Walking, Trotting, Galloping, Rolling and Foraging. The main differences in time-budgets were related to age and to sex : young horses spent more time lying (sleeping), males spent more time standing alert and in rapid movements (trot, gallop), while usually foraging less than did the adult females. During the three years of the study the population increased from 20 to 54 horses and there were considerable changes in social structure as the number of adult males increased. Associated with these developments there were some changes between years in the time-budgets: the most striking of which was a general trend for all horses to spend less time lying. Nonetheless the time-budgets showed a considerable constancy across years and age/sex-classes, especially with regard to time spent foraging. This conclusion may provide a clue as to why horses have an unusual social system based on long term relationships between a male and the females of his harem.


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