Volume 186, June 2015, Pages 123–133
Resource selection and connectivity reveal conservation challenges for reintroduced brown bears in the Italian Alps
Highlights
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- Predicted brown bear habitat suitability matched current habitat use well overall.
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- Orchards and shrubs were used more; mixed woods, conifers and pastures less.
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- Only two potential corridors for eastward population expansion were identified.
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- The Adige Valley is main constraint to larger scale population connectivity with Dinaric–Pindos populations.
Abstract
Large
carnivores are declining worldwide and few examples of successful
reintroductions exist, because of their large home-ranges, low
reproductive rates, and penchant for human–wildlife conflict that is the
main cause of their decline. Moreover, few studies assess whether
habitat suitability predicted before reintroduction, a critical
evaluation step, matches post-reintroduction habitat selection. We
examined habitat-related factors contributing to a successful brown bear
(Ursus arctos) reintroduction in central Europe. Starting in
1999, 10 brown bears were translocated from Slovenia to Trentino in the
Italian Alps, and this population has since grown by >10%/year.
First, we estimated multi-scale resource selection functions (RSF) with
GPS collar data and validated models with k-folds cross validation and
external VHF data. Then, we used Kappa-statistics to compare our
population-scale RSF with a habitat suitability model (HSM) developed to
predict potential habitat before reintroduction. Lastly, we employed
least-cost path (LCP) analyses integrating our within home-range scale
RSF to define movement paths. Overall, the HSM predicted
post-reintroduction habitat selection well in many areas, but bears used
orchards and shrubs more, and mixed/conifer forests and pastures less
than expected prior to reintroduction. Finally, we identified road
crossings of predicted paths between preferred habitat patches. We found
two potential crossings in the Adige Valley, likely the biggest
constraint for the study population to expand eastward and impeding
dispersal to/from the closest bear population (Dinaric–Pindos
population). Increasing awareness for key brown bear habitats and
corridors, especially in potential ecological traps within cultural
landscapes, will be necessary for large carnivore conservation.
Keywords
- Reintroduction;
- Carnivore;
- Least-cost path analysis;
- Habitat selection;
- Italy;
- Ursus arctos
- Corresponding
author at: Research and Innovation Centre, Edmund Mach Foundation, Via
Mach 1, 38010 San Michele all'Adige, TN, Italy. Tel.:
+1 406 552 4362.
Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
