Population trend of the Yellowstone grizzly bear as estimated from reproductive and survival rates

1994 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 360-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. L. Eberhardt ◽  
B. M. Blanchard ◽  
R. R. Knight

The trend of the Yellowstone grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) population was estimated using reproductive rates calculated from 22 individual females and survival rates from 400 female bear-years. The point estimate of the rate of increase was 4.6%, with 95% confidence limits of 0 and 9%. Caution in interpreting this result is advised because of possible biases in the population parameter estimates. The main prospects for improving present knowledge of the population trend appear to be further study of possible biases in the parameter estimates, and the continued use of radiotelemetry to increase the number of samples on which the estimates are based.

1976 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 341-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles S. Churcher ◽  
Alan V. Morgan

The distal end of the left humerus of a grizzly bear, Ursus arctos, has been recovered from above the Early Wisconsin Sunnybrook Till at Woodbridge, Ontario, from the same horizon that previously has yielded remains of the woolly mammoth, Mammuthus primigenius. The age of these specimens is estimated at 40 000–50 000 years BP, within the mid-Wisconsin, Port Talbot Interstadial. The only other recognized Canadian record of a grizzly bear east of Manitoba is from a gravel sequence at Barrie, near Lake Simcoe, Ontario, dated from a bone fragment to 11 700 ± 250 years BP. A specimen recovered in Toronto in 1913 from an Early Wisconsin horizon is also considered to represent the grizzly. Bears of the grizzly type, Ursus arctos-horribilis were present in Ontario before and after the Early and Late Wisconsin ice advances.


2003 ◽  
Vol 81 (2) ◽  
pp. 294-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip D McLoughlin ◽  
Mitchell K Taylor ◽  
H Dean Cluff ◽  
Robert J Gau ◽  
Robert Mulders ◽  
...  

Between May 1995 and June 1999, we equipped 81 barren-ground grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) with satellite radio collars within a study area of 235 000 km2, centred 400 km northeast of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. We used data from radiotelemetry to estimate survival rates, reproductive parameters, and the finite rate of increase of the population (λ). The annual survival rate of adult females was estimated at 0.979 (95% confidence intervals (CI) = 0.955–0.998), while the survival rate of adult males was 0.986 (95% CI = 0.942–1.0). The cub survival rate was 0.737 (95% CI = 0.600–0.844) and the yearling survival rate was 0.683 (95% CI = 0.514–0.821). Cub litter size averaged 2.23 (SE = 0.13, n = 35), while yearling litter size decreased to a mean of 1.86 (SE = 0.12, n = 35). The mean litter size of females with 2-year-olds was 1.85 (SE = 0.15, n = 20). The mean birth interval was 2.8 years (SE = 0.3 years, n = 17). The mean reproductive interval, which is calculated by excluding the loss of whole litters from the sample, was 3.9 years (SE = 0.4 years, n = 9). Mean litter size divided by mean birth interval yielded an annual natality rate of 0.81 cubs per adult female per year. The mean age at first parturition was 8.1 years (SE = 0.5 years, n = 10). We believe the population to be currently stable or slightly increasing (λ = 1.033, 95% CI = 1.008–1.064).


1989 ◽  
Vol 67 (8) ◽  
pp. 1856-1860 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce N. McLellan

The characteristics of a grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) population in southeastern British Columbia were studied between 1979 and 1986, a period of timber harvest, gas exploration, and outdoor recreation, including grizzly hunting. I investigated the hypothesis that collectively these activities were detrimental to the grizzly population. I predicted a low density of bears compared with other interior populations and (or) a negative rate of increase. The sex ratio of cubs and yearlings captured was 50:50 and they represented 21.5 and 17.5% of the population, respectively. Although more adult males than adult females were captured, I estimated that there were more adult females than males in the population. I used two methods of population estimation and assumed saturation trapping : one method was based on home range characteristics and the other on the proportion of aerial locations in the study area. The average estimated bear density was 6.4/100 km2, which was high for an interior population, and increased from approximately 5.7/100 km2 in 1981 to 8.0/100 km2 in 1986, for an average annual observed rate of increase of r = 0.07.


2001 ◽  
Vol 58 (9) ◽  
pp. 1871-1890 ◽  
Author(s):  
M K McAllister ◽  
E K Pikitch ◽  
E A Babcock

Even though Bayesian methods can provide statistically rigorous assessments of the biological status of fisheries resources, uninformative data (e.g., declining catch rate series with little variation in fishing effort) can produce highly imprecise parameter estimates. This can be counteracted with the use of informative Bayesian prior distributions (priors) for model parameters. We develop priors for the intrinsic rate of increase (r) in the Schaefer surplus production model using demographic methods and illustrate the utility of this with an application to large coastal sharks in the Atlantic. In 1996, a U.S. stock assessment obtained a point estimate for r of 0.26. For such long-lived and low-fecund organisms, this could potentially be too high. Yet it was used to predict that within about 10 years, a 50% reduction in the 1995 catch level should result in >50% chance of increasing the population to the abundance required to produce maximum sustainable yield. In contrast, a Bayesian assessment that used demographic analysis to construct a prior for r with a median of 0.07 and coefficient of variation (CV) of 0.7 indicated that within 30 years, this policy would have only a very small chance of increasing the population to maximum sustainable yield.


1989 ◽  
Vol 67 (8) ◽  
pp. 1865-1868 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce N. McLellan

Reproductive parameters and rate of increase were estimated for a grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) population in southeastern British Columbia during a period of timber harvest and gas exploration, 1979–1987.I hypothesized that these activities would be detrimental to the population and predicted a negative rate of increase. There was an average of 2.26 cubs in 31 litters. The average of nine interbirth intervals was 2.67 years, and the average age at which five females produced their first litter was 6 years. The population's annual reproductive rate calculated by three methods averaged 0.86 cubs per adult female. By iteration of the Lotka equation, the best estimate of the exponential rate of increase was 0.081. Industrial activities did not appear to have a significant detrimental effect on the grizzly bear population in the Flathead Valley during the period of study but the roads built provided easy access for hunters and poachers.


1984 ◽  
Vol 62 (12) ◽  
pp. 2571-2575 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne C. Holcroft ◽  
Stephen Herrero

Characteristics of sites where Hedysarum sulphurescens Rydb. roots were extensively, less extensively, or not dug by grizzly bears Ursus arctos horribilis Ord. were analyzed in relation to topographic, vegetative, soil, and geologic features. Discriminant function analysis significantly separated dug and undug sites, but did not separate extensively and less extensively dug sites. Ease of breaking the soil surface, presence of shaly rock fragments, loose cobble and gravel, and steep slopes were characteristic of dug sites. The abundance of H. sulphurescens appeared less important than the loose nature of the substrate indicating that digging time was important in optimizing energetics.


2012 ◽  
Vol 147 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 376-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Mete ◽  
L. Woods ◽  
D. Famini ◽  
M. Anderson

2017 ◽  
Vol 220 (7) ◽  
pp. 1322-1329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine L. Shine ◽  
Charles T. Robbins ◽  
O. Lynne Nelson ◽  
Craig P. McGowan

1998 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Don White, Jr. ◽  
Katherine C Kendall ◽  
Harold D Picton

Grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis) consume army cutworm moths (Euxoa auxiliaris) from late June through mid-September at alpine moth aggregation sites in Glacier National Park, Montana. To better understand the importance of army cutworm moths to grizzly bears, we determined the sex and age classes and minimum numbers of grizzly bears foraging at known alpine moth aggregation sites, and documented the timing and use patterns of grizzly bears foraging in these areas. A minimum of 36 grizzly bears were observed 106 times feeding at 6 of 9 known moth aggregation sites from late June through mid-September in 1992-1995; no bears were observed on moth sites in 1993. Bears fed on moth aggregations disproportionately more at elevations >2561 m, on slopes between 31° and 45°, and on southwest-facing aspects. Lone adult grizzly bears appeared to be underrepresented and subadults overrepresented at moth sites. Moths are highly digestible; all parts are digested except for the exoskeleton. We propose that army cutworm moths are an important, high-quality, preferred summer and early-fall food for grizzly bears in Glacier National Park. We do not present any data that demonstrate an increase in the importance of moths when other foods fail.


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