Brown bear in European Russia: number rise and range expansion

1. Brown bear in European Russia: number rise and range expansion Leonid M. Baskin Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian academy of sciences

3. Increasing brown bear numbers in European Russia • 1981 - 22,800 • 1991 – 49,900 • 2004 – 51,300 • 2007 – 58,600

4. Numbers of brown bear in districts of central and southern European Russia

5. Bear’s density is well correlated with the amount of forest (0.61, p<0.01) and human density (-0.35, p<0.01,n=529 districts) Bears/10 km2 Forest (%) Humans/1 km2 Regions of European Russia Bear density Human density Forest

6. Regression coefficients

7. In forest with dense spruce undergrowth, also in birch-willow shrubs in bogs, a visibility is 40-45 m • Bear can be spotted from 107-113 m in forest without undergrowth

9. Distances of spotting a bear by a human Open water or human’s settlement – up to 1000 m Open field – up to 400 m Old forest without closed undergrowth – up to 120 m Young forest or forest with closed undergrowth – up to 25 m

10. Modis based travel cost

11. Fragmentation was measured at four scales: 25 (33 x 33 pixels), 49, 81, and 169 km2

13. Size of forest stand is important • P.B. Jurgenson (1937) proposed that for bear survival some minimum size of forest islands is necessary. • L. Baskin measured that at least 87 km2 is necessary for one bear, and 300 km2 would be necessary for a group of bears.

14. In European Russia bears are very fearful. They always escape meetings with people, run away if such meeting occasionally has happen. • Only wounded animals attack hunters that follow the bear along track of blood drops. • To avoid being spotted by people the bears find out shelter in forests. It is only shelter in the flat country.

15. Hunting bears in 2007 • Total number in European Russia – 53600 • Issued licenses – 4794 • Hunted – 1723 • The brown bear demonstrates high intelligence to avoid meetings with humans, escape hunting dogs, and to pass human’ ambush

16. Now, in European Russia only ca. 3 % (maximum 7%) bears are harvested annually. • Existing hunting level is sufficient cause of conservation of high level of alertness in the bear population of European Russia. More bold animals will sooner be spotted by hunters and eliminated. • The level of forestation higher than 30% provide sufficient shelter of bears. It is enough for the bears to escape meetings with humans.

17. Conclusions • The modern situation with brown bear in European Russia is quite unclouded • The bear increase the number and expands its range • Because of the great forestation of the large part of European Russia the brown bear has a good refuge even in densely populated regions • Neighboring the large predator and humans is ensured by high alertness of the animals. In the years of starvation the deadly conflicts take place.