A multidimensional approach to managing the European brown bear in Croatia

Huber, Đuro; Kusak, Josip; Majić-Skrbinšek, Aleksandra; Majnarić, Dario; Sindičić, Magda

doi:10.2192/1537-6176(2008)19[22:amatmt]2.0.co;2

Cited by 81 publications

(54 citation statements)

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“…The Croatian brown bear population is among a few in Europe that are managed through hunting (Huber et al 2008b). Although modern hunting is not considered a threat to the population, it may influence the population's sex and age structure.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The population size has recovered from centuries of uncontrolled hunting and persecution, which lasted until the introduction of the country's first Hunting Act in the mid-1940s. At that time, fewer than roughly 100 bears remained (Huber and Frković 1993;Huber et al 2008b). Since then, the number has steadily increased, reaching approximately 400 in the 1980s and coming close to the habitat's ecological and social capacity in the last official estimate in 2008 (Huber et al 2008a,b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The brown bear is managed as a game species in Croatia. Several national laws and documents regulate hunting and population management, the annual removal quota and duration of the hunting season (Huber et al 2008b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Genetic diversity of Dinaric brown bears (Ursus arctos) in Croatia with implications for bear conservation in Europe

et al. 2011

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a b s t r a c tBrown bears have lost most of their range on the European continent. The remaining western populations are small, isolated and highly endangered. The Dinaric-Pindos brown bear population is the westernmost stable population and the fourth largest in Europe. It has been recognized as a potential source for recolonization of populations whose survival is at risk. Indeed, several translocations of Dinaric bears to Italy, Austria and France have recently been made. Despite the importance of the Dinaric bear population, its genetic status remains poorly understood. Using tissue samples from 156 hunted or accidentally killed Dinaric bears in Croatia, this study analysed genetic diversity at 12 microsatellite loci, as well as population structure and past reductions in size. In addition, a subset of 59 samples was used to assess diversity of the mitochondrial DNA control region. The results indicate that Dinaric bears have high nuclear genetic diversity, as compared to other extant brown bear populations, despite genetic evidence of a bottleneck caused by past persecutions. However, haplotype diversity was low, probably as a result of male-biased dispersal and female philopatry. Not surprisingly, no evidence of population sub-structure was found using nuclear markers, as the bear habitat has remained continuous and the highway network has been built only recently. Management should focus on maintaining habitat connectivity and keeping the effective population size as large as possible. In addition, when removing individuals, care should be taken not to further deplete the population of rare haplotypes. A coordinated transboundary management of the entire Dinaric-Pindos brown bear population should be a priority for its long-term conservation.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Genetic diversity of Dinaric brown bears (Ursus arctos) in Croatia with implications for bear conservation in Europe

et al. 2011

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“…Huber et al 2008;Liukkonen et al 2009). The approaches adopted in this study complement these quantitative approaches in two ways.…”

Section: The Ethno-ethological Approach In a Conservation Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Knowledge and Perceptions of Macedonian Hunters and Herders: The Influence of Species Specific Ecology of Bears, Wolves, and Lynx

Lescureux

Linnell

2010

Hum Ecol

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The fact that human-large carnivore relationships tend to be full of material and social conflicts raises applied questions concerning the origin of human perceptions linked to these animals and more theoretical questions concerning the link between identification and relational processes. This study, based on ethno-ethological surveys in the Republic of Macedonia (SE Europe), aims to show that the widely contrasting species specific behavioural characteristics of brown bears, wolves and Eurasian lynx influence local perceptions of these species through the nature and frequency of their interactions with humans. It appears that a high frequency of interactions allows the relational processes to dominate, leading people to modify their actions in response to the behaviour and ecology of the species. However, the fact that the virtual absence of interactions with lynx has not prevented the construction of a particular image of the species also highlights the complexity of the relationship between the level of interactions and people's perception about animals.

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“…This might be especially demanding when the focus of conservation moves from saving a species from extinction to trying to establish a sustainable relationship with a recovered population (Swenson et al 1998), a stage which often involves some extent of lethal control or recreational harvest (Huber et al 2008;. The killing of large carnivores is often controversial due to their charismatic nature-conservationists frequently call for hunting bans, whereas the interest groups less positive to carnivore conservation frequently call for higher quotas.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quota hunting of Eurasian lynx in Norway: patterns of hunter selection, hunter efficiency and monitoring accuracy

et al. 2011

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Harvesting large carnivores is often a controversial issue and thus requires a higher precision than other types of recreational harvest. Despite this, management programmes are often initiated based on very limited knowledge about the state of the population and the composition and magnitude of the harvest. Here we analyse patterns of lynx harvest in Norway based on harvest data from 1994 to 2009. We found clear signs of sex-biased harvest rates, with males generally being more at risk. Further, harvest mortality rates increased with age among males but not among females. In general, the degree of quota filling was high, but there was a tendency for decreasing quota filling with increasing quotas. A population reconstruction of the Norwegian lynx population (1994)(1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004) based on a modified cohort analysis closely tracked the development in the official monitoring data, suggesting that the managers have access to relatively good information about the development of the population, at least at a larger spatial scale. Despite this, the population trajectory showed large temporal variation, and time lags in the management's decision-making process are a likely cause of the observed patterns in the Norwegian lynx population.

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A multidimensional approach to managing the European brown bear in Croatia

Cited by 81 publications

References 2 publications

Genetic diversity of Dinaric brown bears (Ursus arctos) in Croatia with implications for bear conservation in Europe

Genetic diversity of Dinaric brown bears (Ursus arctos) in Croatia with implications for bear conservation in Europe

Knowledge and Perceptions of Macedonian Hunters and Herders: The Influence of Species Specific Ecology of Bears, Wolves, and Lynx

Quota hunting of Eurasian lynx in Norway: patterns of hunter selection, hunter efficiency and monitoring accuracy

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