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Records of bountied brown bear s Ursus arctos in Norway and Sweden were analy sed to estimate population size in the mid-1800' s, and changes in popul ation size and distribution in relation to the bear management policies of both countries. In the mid-1800' s about 65% of the bears in Scand inav ia wer e in Norway (perhaps 3,100 in Norw ay and 1,650 in Sweden). Both countries tried to eliminate the bear in the 1800 ' s; Sweden was more effective. By the turn of the century, the numbers of bears were low in both countries. The lowest population level in the population remnants that have subsequently survived occurred around 1930 and was estimated at 130 bears. Sweden' s policy was changed at the turn of the century to save the bear from extin ction. This policy was success ful, and the population is now large and expanding. Norway did not change its policy and bear s were virtually eliminated by 1920-30. Since 1975, bear observations increa sed in Norway. Thi s coincided temporally with an abrupt increase in the Swedish bear population, and bears reappeared sooner in areas closer to the remnant Swedish population s. Both cond itions support our conclusion that the bear was virtually exterminated in Norway and suggest that bears observed now are primarily immigrants from Sweden , except for far northern Norw ay, whi ch was recolonised from Russia and Finland. Today , we estimate that the Scandinavian bear popul ation numbers about 700 , with about 2% in Norw ay (on aver age about 14 in Norway, 650 -700 in Sweden). Thi s is a dra stic reduction in the estimate of bear s in Norway, compared with earlier stud ies. The trend s in bear numbers responded to the policies in effect. The most effective measure s used in Scandinavia to con serve bears were those that reduced or eliminated the economic incentive for people to kill them . Our analy sis also sugges ts that population estim ates based on reports from observation s made by the general public can be greatly inflated.

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In Europe the brown bear (Ursus arctos) is represented by two different mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) lineages, which probably diverged about 0.85 million years ago. Scandinavia has been colonized by representatives of both lineages, from the north (eastern lineage) and from the south (western lineage), and now bears occur primarily in four main regions called female concentration areas. For management purposes the localization of the contact zone between these two genotypes is important. Using hairs as a source of DNA, 127 individual brown bears from throughout the Scandinavian populations were assayed for lineage assignment. A part of the mtDNA control region was amplified via the polymearase chain reaction, and the product was either sequenced (14 individuals) or digested with two diagnostic restriction endonucleases (113 individuals). Fifty‐six and 71 bears were assigned to the western and eastern lineages, respectively. The geographic distribution of the two genotypes allowed precise localization of the contact zone. Only two males from each lineage had crossed the border between the two lineages. We used dispersal data from bears radiomarked as yearlings to determine whether potential mtDNA introgressions agreed with the dispersal behavior of bears. The males in the “wrong” areas were all within the 95th‐percentile dispersal distance from the “correct” area. Females were more philopatric than males, and none were found in the wrong areas. The two female concentration areas flanking the contact zone were 134 km apart. Thus, radiotelemetry results on dispersal distances could explain the occurrence of the males in the wrong genetic area. In the absence of information concerning possible male‐mediated gene flow, a conservative management approach would be to consider the southern and the three northern female concentration areas as two distinct conservation units. Localización de una zona de contacto entre dos linajes de ADN mitocondrial muy divergentes del oso pardo Ursus arctos en Escandinavia

S u p p o rt f o r h u n ti n g a s a m e a n s o f w o l f Canis lupus p o p u la tio n c o n t ro l in S w e d e n .

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