Large carnivores living alongside humans: Brown bears in human-modified landscapes

Abstract

Expansion of human activities into large carnivore habitats and of large carnivore ranges into anthropogenic settings increase the potential for human-wildlife conflicts. Future carnivore survival and recovery depend on both their ability to adapt to human-modified landscapes and the application of adequate conservation strategies. We review human-related factors that negatively affect brown bears inhabiting human-modified landscapes, aiming to improve human-bear coexistence. Brown bears have triggered much research and a review on this model species should be useful for the conservation-oriented management of many large carnivores. In human-modified landscapes, main threats to bear populations are human settlements, habituation and availability of anthropogenic food, density and traffic load of roads and railways, and recreational and industrial activities. Main effects of coexistence with humans for bears are: increased disturbance, human-bear conflicts and human-caused mortality; behavioural alterations; reduced fitness and genetic diversity; and physiological alterations. To promote bear-human coexistence in human-modified landscapes, we identified nine key elements: reduction of human-induced mortality and use of scientific information for better assessment of new infrastructures; improve education on waste management and bear deterrence methods; safeguard and restore habitat connectivity; mitigate road effects and restrict motorized trail use; adjust viewing activity practices to local conservation status of bear populations and food availability; implement mitigation measures to minimize risk of human-bear encounters; quantify empirically the effects of recreational activities on the energetics and fitness of bears; better dissemination of scientific results and management guidelines; and further research on behavioural reactions of bears to different management regimes and persecution histories.

Keywords

• Disturbance
• Human-modified landscape
• Human-wildlife conflicts
• Large carnivore conservation
• Ursus arctos