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Mapping habitat suitability of the brown bear in Artvin-Şavşat region, Turkey
Ahmet Acarer, Ahmet Mert
Ursus 2025 (36e8), 1-15, (20 June 2025) https://doi.org/10.2192/URSUS-D-24-00018
KEYWORDS: Artvin-Şavşat region, brown bear, Camera trap, habitat modelling, Maximum entropy, species ecology and management, Ursus arctos
Open Access Article
We aimed to build seasonal habitat suitability models and maps for brown bear (Ursus arctos), which are distributed in the Artvin-Şavşat region of northeastern Turkey. Between May 2018 and May 2020, 200 camera traps were deployed using an opportunistic camera-trap method. Over 280,000 images were captured during 121,140 camera-trap days, with images including 1,860 brown bears detected. Maximum Entropy analysis, which uses only presence data, was employed for seasonal habitat suitability modelling and mapping of brown bears using 30 independent variables and the presence data of brown bears in spring, summer, autumn, and winter. The difference between the training and test data sets of area under the curve (AUC) scores for each model was used to select the most supported model. The model for spring (AUC: 0.920–0.915) included land use class, annual mean temperature, elevation, annual precipitation, ruggedness, and slope class. The model for summer (AUC: 0.921–0.913) included road density, land use class, annual mean temperature, ruggedness, and slope class. Land use class, road density, distance to settlement, annual mean temperature, elevation, slope class, seasonal precipitation, and ruggedness contributed to the model for autumn (AUC: 0.928–0.925). Model results for different seasons were mapped and areas prioritized for protection of the endangered brown bear were determined.
Kaitlyn E. Shaw, Kenneth E. Wallen
Ursus 2025 (36e9), 1-16, (4 July 2025) https://doi.org/10.2192/URSUS-D-24-00014
KEYWORDS: Bitterroot ecosystem, coexistence, grizzly bear, human dimensions, Idaho, natural recovery, tolerance, Ursus arctos horribilis
Grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis) were extirpated from central Idaho’s Bitterroot Ecosystem (BE) in the United States by the 1940s. Since a failed attempt to reintroduce grizzlies to the BE in the 1990s, individuals have been documented in the region since 2007, indicating potential natural recovery in the future. Moreover, as of 2023, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is reevaluating its past record of decision on BE grizzly bear reintroduction. To proactively inform conservation and management amid potential natural recovery or reintroduction, an exploratory qualitive mixed-methods study, conducted using focus groups and interviews between August and September 2021, assessed (1) BE residents’ tolerance toward and perceptions of grizzly bears and their management; and (2) the management institutions BE residents trust to manage grizzlies in accordance with their local values and preferences. Results highlight specific aspects and tentative causes of tolerance and trust expressed by BE residents and 2 emergent phenomena: social injustice and perceived costs (material and nonmaterial). Thematic analysis revealed consistent patterns of (a) BE residents’ grizzly tolerance being based on negative attitudes and perceived costs; (b) BE residents’ trust in management agencies being related to aspects of trustworthiness that stem from past experiences and subjective knowledge; and that (3) BE residents perceive an inequitable constitutive process that, in turn, promotes intolerance toward grizzly bears. Findings suggest improved engagement with BE communities, clear communication about management intentions, and a more equitable constitutive process, can address issues of tolerance, trust, social injustice, and perceived costs of grizzly bear presence in the BE region.