Analyzing Long-Term Data (30+ years) to Better Understand Bear Ecology

Collaborators: Bear Trust International, New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife

Funders: Bear Trust International, Hudson Farm

Project Overview

The purpose of this project is to analyze a long-term data set that includes both capture-recapture and movement/location data (GPS locations) for black bears in New Jersey.  Using the capture-recapture data, we will provide information on how population demographics have changed over time.

Specifically, we will estimate population survival, recruitment, and population growth rates for each year during 1981-2011.  We will include “bear harvest” as a covariate to survival and population growth rate during the modeling process to determine the degree to which “hunting as a conservation tool” has affected bear demography.  Using the bear location data, we will evaluate bear movement for each year.  If historical satellite imagery data are available for the study site, we will estimate resource selection.

Ultimately, we plan to link estimates of resource selection with estimates of demography to determine the degree to which the availability of natural bear foods affected demography, relative to the effects of management strategies (e.g., harvest, lethal removal, translocation, etc.), use of areas near roads by bears, and use of areas near urban sites by bears.

UPDATE

In March 2012, we began Phase I of this project!  We hired a data specialist, Marissa Hunt (pictured on the left) to verify the data and prepare them for analyses.  Data should be ready by summer, 2012.  We’ll be hiring a graduate student to collaborate with us on this project.

EDUCATION:  SCIENCE-BASED LEARNING

We will also use results from this research analysis to develop an education program for students in grades K-12.  This education program will be web-based, project-based, and free for educators and students throughout New Jersey, the US, and beyond.

photo credit:  Kelcey Burguess/NJDFW