Restoration of transborder connectivity for Fennoscandian brown bears (Ursus arctos)

Kopatz, Alexander; Kleven, Oddmund; Kojola, Ilpo; Aspi, Jouni; Norman, Anita J.; Spong, Göran; Gyllenstrand, Niclas; Dalén, Love; Fløystad, Ida; Hagen, Snorre B.; Kindberg, Jonas; Flagstad, Øystein

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108936

Cited by 11 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 93 publications

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“…In the GenePlot results there were three bears in central Finland and one in eastern Finland, which had a low probability of being assigned to either of the two populations, suggesting that they originally came from outside the study area. The connectivity between the bear populations has recently increased [45], and there has been a constant increase in the population size since the late 1960s [86]. Genetic variation in the study areas was as high as in other bear populations [87][88][89] and similar to that of other Finnish brown bear studies [41].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 52%

“…In Finland the brown bear population has continued to grow during the recent decades, and the estimated population size is approximately 2,670-2,800 individuals [44]. The stable population from eastern Finland has expanded towards the west into central Finland; thus, bears in these two regions do not differ in their genetic composition [45]. However, the populations are genetically differentiated from the bear population in northern Finland and Scandinavia [45;46], which indicates that the bear population in northern Finland could have been recolonised by a different bear population than the Russian population.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the populations are genetically differentiated from the bear population in northern Finland and Scandinavia [45;46], which indicates that the bear population in northern Finland could have been recolonised by a different bear population than the Russian population. Nevertheless, migration rates between Fennoscandian bear populations have recently increased due to management actions [45].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ain't Nothing Like Family - Brown Bears Share their Home Range with Relatives

Olejarz¹,

Aspi²,

Kojola³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Sociality in animal populations is a continuum, and interactions between conspecifics are meaningful for all vertebrates. Ignorance of social structures can lead to misunderstanding their ecology and, consequently, to unsuccessful species management. Here, we combined genetic and spatial data on radio-collated brown bears (Ursus arctos) to investigate kin-related home range overlap and kin-related centroid distance within central and eastern Finland. We found that the extent of overlap of home ranges was positively linked with relatedness among adult females. A similar positive correlation could be detected between home range centroid distance and relatedness among adult females. Moreover, there were significant differences between the two studied regions: female brown bears in central Finland were more closely related to each other, and the sizes of their home ranges were larger than those in eastern Finland. The smaller home ranges and lower degree of relatedness among bears in eastern Finland might be a result of the substantially higher hunting pressure in the area, combined with immigration of new unrelated individuals from Russia.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 52%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Ain't Nothing Like Family - Brown Bears Share their Home Range with Relatives

Olejarz¹,

Aspi²,

Kojola³

et al. 2021

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The nNGS proves the need to study transboundary bear populations to provide interesting outcomes [64,71,79,84,153,154]. Three individuals' DNA from FYR Macedonia was also detected in Greece, and this demonstrates the presence of a single interconnected population [84].…”

Section: Noninvasive Genetics In Bear Conservation and Managementmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…Most of the genetic studies conducted on brown bear populations from Europe estimated the number of individuals, their density, and sex ratio to reveal the species' conservation status and distribution [69,81]. Some authors made assumptions and demonstrated the current need for connectivity between bear populations starting from these indicators [56,64,65,71,76,79,80,84,87,89,107] or the sex-biased philopatry [53,65,74,79,95,[156][157][158].…”

Section: Noninvasive Genetics In Bear Conservation and Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Noninvasive Genetics Knowledge from the Brown Bear Populations to Assist Biodiversity Conservation

2022

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Genetic monitoring has proven helpful in estimating species presence and abundance, and detecting trends in genetic diversity, to be incorporated in providing data and recommendations to management authorities for action and policy development. We reviewed 148 genetics research papers conducted on the bear species worldwide retrieved from Web of Science, SCOPUS, and Google Scholar. This review aims to reveal sampling methodology and data collection instructions, and to unveil innovative noninvasively genetic monitoring techniques that may be integrated into the genetic monitoring of a large bear population. In North American studies, hair samples were collected more often than faeces, whereas in Europe, both faeces and hair samples surveys are recommended, usually focusing on faeces. The use of the Isohelix sample collection method, previously tested locally and, if suitable, applied at the national level, could generate numerous advantages by reducing shortcomings. Additionally, dogs trained for faeces sampling could be used in parallel with hunting managers, foresters, and volunteers for sample collection organised during autumn and winter. It was stated that this is the best period in terms of cost-efficiency and high quality of the gathered samples. We conclude that large-scale noninvasive genetic monitoring of a large bear population represents a challenge; nevertheless, it provides valuable insights for biodiversity monitoring and actions to respond to climate change.

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Expanding the spatial scale in DNA-based monitoring schemes: ascertainment bias in transnational assessments

Kopatz,

Norman,

Spong

et al. 2024

Eur J Wildl Res

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Harmonising methodology between countries is crucial in transborder population monitoring. However, immediate application of alleged, established DNA-based methods across the extended area can entail drawbacks and may lead to biases. Therefore, genetic methods need to be tested across the whole area before being deployed. Around 4,500 brown bears (Ursus arctos) live in Norway, Sweden, and Finland and they are divided into the western (Scandinavian) and eastern (Karelian) population. Both populations have recovered and are connected via asymmetric migration. DNA-based population monitoring in Norway and Sweden uses the same set of genetic markers. With Finland aiming to implement monitoring, we tested the available SNP-panel developed to assess brown bears in Norway and Sweden, on tissue samples from a representative set of 93 legally harvested individuals from Finland. The aim was to test for ascertainment bias and evaluate its suitability for DNA-based transnational-monitoring covering all three countries. We compared results to the performance of microsatellite genotypes of the same individuals in Finland and against SNP-genotypes from individuals sampled in Sweden (N = 95) and Norway (N = 27). In Finland, a higher resolution for individual identification was obtained for SNPs (PI = 1.18E-27) compared to microsatellites (PI = 4.2E-11). Compared to Norway and Sweden, probability of identity of the SNP-panel was slightly higher and expected heterozygosity lower in Finland indicating ascertainment bias. Yet, our evaluation show that the available SNP-panel outperforms the microsatellite panel currently applied in Norway and Sweden. The SNP-panel represents a powerful tool that could aid improving transnational DNA-based monitoring of brown bears across these three countries.

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Restoration of transborder connectivity for Fennoscandian brown bears (Ursus arctos)

Cited by 11 publications

References 93 publications

Ain't Nothing Like Family - Brown Bears Share their Home Range with Relatives

Ain't Nothing Like Family - Brown Bears Share their Home Range with Relatives

Noninvasive Genetics Knowledge from the Brown Bear Populations to Assist Biodiversity Conservation

Expanding the spatial scale in DNA-based monitoring schemes: ascertainment bias in transnational assessments

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