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Preserving spatial connectivity and facilitating
transboundary monitoring at the edge of an expanding
brown bear population Experiences from LIFE DINALP BEAR project
Tomaž Skrbinšek, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana
Berlin, April 2016
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Brown bear
distribution
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Europe at night (NASA/NOAA)
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• 5 years (Julij 2014 – Junij 2019), 5.998.048€
• 4 countries (Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, Austria)
• 9 partners (lead beneficiary Slovenia Forest Service
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PROJECT AREA
Core Area – high population
density, (relatively) low conflicts.
Expansion area – low population density, high conflicts.
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Main Goals
• Establishment of transboundary management and conservation of
bears in the northern Dinaric Mountains and the Alps.
• Decrease of human – bear conflicts and promotion of coexistence.
• Support for natural expansion of the brown bear into the Alps.
Foto: Miha Krofel
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First goal on the path to collaboration: GET PEOPLE TO START
TALKING! • Common Guidelines for Population-level Brown Bear Management
in NW Dinaric Mountains and the Alps (involving all key stakholders
in the process).
• Commitments of governments of participating countries to integrate
the results into national legislation.
• Wider collaboration – other Alpine Convention Countries (process
endorsed by the WISO platform), Bosnia.
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It‘s not enough that managers from different
countries start talking to each other….
…they need to have
something to talk about.
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Public
Researchers
Internet-based population-
level monitoring geo-
database
Database
Genotypes Samples
Stable isotope data
Diet data
Telemetry data
Observation data
Locations, paths…
Quality assurance protocols!
Management data
Wildlife damages
Mortality
…
…
Officials
Web Cartographic Interface
Direct data upload / download
Mobile App
User Interface
Automatic Callibration of Genotypes
Genotype matching
Automatic collection of GPS telemetry data from collars
Data (pre)processing
Preparation & handling of GIS & tabular input/output data
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Yearly population status reports (first done 2015)
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Direct actions – baseline study of population size
(beginning of joint long-term monitoring?)
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“Counting fish is just like counting trees…
…except that they are invisible and keep moving.“
John Shepherd
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Between 500 and 1000 participants.
1052 samples, 354 different bears „captured“.
2007 – intensive study in Slovenia (UL, SFS, SHA)
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*The main result for bear management:
we stopped arguing about the population size...
*there are other benefits
… for a while.
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2015 - estimates of population size, sex structure and
population range using non-invasive genetic sampling
High-intensity sampling
1,900,000 ha
19,000 km2
~ 6000 km2 SLO
~ 13,000 km2 HR
Lower intensity, long-term opportunistic sampling.
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„This is nice.
I wish to participate!“
Personal – Level Involvement of Volunteers
GOAL!
Get individual people to directly participate!
Engage critical stakeholders,
mainly hunters and foresters
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Personal DNA sampling kit
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„Yay! I found a bear scat!“
Project Team
Geo-database
Analysis
Acknowledge
Results
Ackgnowledgement of receipt
Pesonalized results
Feedback!
SMS (?)
„Wow! So that‘s where my bear is!“
Sample return + feedback Personal – Level Involvement of Volunteers
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Country Registered Unregistered Total
Croatia 70 341 411
Slovenia 482 69 551
Table: Number of users that provided samples.
1336 users registered in the database (1098 Slovenia, 225 Croatia)
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September – December 2015
4687 samples were collected in both countries (2472 Slovenia, 2205
Croatia).
Decent spatial and temporal coverage.
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NOW LABWORK!
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Promising parallel – monitoring Effective population size
(Ne)
Effective Pop. Size
(index)
Sex & Age
Specific Mortality
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Connectivity?
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mortality
males
females
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Integration of bear habitat connectivity and suitability
into spatial planning
• Understanding habitat connectivity for bears in the project area.
• Production of „Environmental Impact Assesment Guidelines“ to
include spatial needs of bears in spatial planning.
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Hopefully, a start of population-level monitoring and management…
…but at the end of the day, there needs to be a
will to collaborate for this to work in the long term.
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www.dinalpbear.eu
Thank you!