The Pyrenean brown bear Ursus arctos population in the mountains between France and Spain is one of the smallest and most threatened populations of large carnivores in Europe. We assessed trends in brown bear habitat use in the Pyrenees and investigated the underlying environmental and anthropogenic drivers. Using detection/non-detection data collected during 2008–2014 through non-invasive methods, we developed dynamic occupancy models, accounting for local colonization and extinction processes. We found two non-connected core areas of occupancy, one in the west and the other in the centre of the Pyrenees, with a significant decrease in habitat use overall during 2008–2014. We also found a negative correlation between human density and bear occupancy, in agreement with previous studies on brown bear habitat suitability. Our results confirm the Critically Endangered status of the Pyrenean population of brown bears.
The Pyrenean brown bear (Ursus arctos) in the mountainous border between France and Spain is one of the smallest and most endangered populations of large carnivores in Europe. Here, we aimed at assessing trends in brown bear habitat use in the Pyrenees and determining the underlying environmental and anthropogenic drivers. Using detection/non-detection data collected between 2008 and 2014 through non-invasive methods, we developed occupancy models to investigate the dynamic of brown bear habitat use in the Pyrenees accounting for local colonization and extinction processes. First, we found two non-connected occupancy cores, one located in the West and another in the Center of the Pyrenees, with an overall significant decrease in habitat use between 2008 and 2014. Second, we showed a negative correlation between human density and bear occupancy in agreement with previous studies on brown bear habitat suitability. Our results confirm the critically endangered status of the Pyrenean population of brown bears.
Human administrative borders have no effect on wild animals, and the vast home ranges of large carnivores often cause them to live simultaneously on the territory of two or more countries or jurisdictions with different management policies. Here, we investigate the importance of transboundary population monitoring using as a case study the Pyrenean brown bear population (Ursus arctos) that lives in France, Andorra and Spain. Using capture-recapture models and the Pollock’s robust design, we estimated abundance and demographic parameters using data collected separately in France and Spain and a dataset gathered from joint monitoring on both sides of the border. As expected, the abundance estimates from French (from 11 bears in 2008 to 13 in 2014) or Spanish (from 4 bears in 2008 to 9 in 2014) data only were lower than abundance obtained from both sides of the border (from 11 in 2008 to 18 in 2014). The joint monitoring dataset also highlighted the importance of individual detection heterogeneity that, if ignored, would lead to underestimation. Our results reinforce the importance of transboundary cooperation when dealing with animal populations with territory spanning two or more administrative jurisdictions for collecting reliable scientific data and providing relevant abundance estimation to take sound management decisions.
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