Russian Karelia is inhabited by a dense, stable brown bear (Ursus arctos) population. To the west of this core area, in Finland, bear numbers have increased roughly 5-fold since the late 1960s, but densities are still lower than in Karelia. Because dispersal patterns of males and females are different, the population structure may differ between these two regions. We examined potential differences by comparing the body mass distribution and sex ratio among hunter-killed bears between Russian Karelia (data from 1960-90) and Finland (data from 1978-99), and the possible change in age class and sex ratios in Finland with the distance from Finnish-Russian frontier. Small (1 year old increased significantly with the distance from the frontier between Russian Karelia and Finland. Our results are likely explained by male-biased dispersal of subadults into Finland from core areas in Russian Karelia and the frontier zone regions between Russian Karelia and Finland.
- Volume 14
- Issue 1
- Pages 17-20
- Publication Date 1 January 2003
- DOI
- File Size 305.57 KB
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