Human Footprint and Forest Disturbance Reduce Space Use of Brown Bears (Ursus arctos) Across Europe.

Three-quarters of the planet's land surface has been altered by humans, with consequences for animal ecology, movements and related ecosystem functioning. Species often occupy wide geographical ranges with contrasting human disturbance and environmental conditions, yet, limited data availability across species' ranges has constrained our understanding of how human pressure and resource availability jointly shape intraspecific variation of animal space use. Leveraging a unique dataset of 758 annual GPS movement trajectories from 375 brown bears (Ursus arctos) across the species' range in Europe, we investigated the effects of human pressure (i.

The extinct Sicilian wolf shows a complex history of isolation and admixture with ancient dogs.

The Sicilian wolf remained isolated in Sicily from the end of the Pleistocene until its extermination in the 1930s-1960s. Given its long-term isolation on the island and distinctive morphology, the genetic origin of the Sicilian wolf remains debated. We sequenced four nuclear genomes and five mitogenomes from the seven existing museum specimens to investigate the Sicilian wolf ancestry, relationships with extant and extinct wolves and dogs, and diversity.

Calf/female ratio and population dynamics of wild forest reindeer in relation to wolf and moose abundances in a managed European ecosystem.

Background: The alternative prey hypothesis describes the mechanism for apparent competition whereby the mortality of the secondary prey species increases (and population size decreases decreases) by the increased predation by the shared predator if the population size of the primary prey decreases. Apparent competition is a process where the abundance of two co-existing prey species are negatively associated because they share a mutual predator, which negatively affects the abundance of both prey Here, we examined whether alternative prey and/or apparent competition hypothesis can explain the population dynamics and reproductive output of the secondary prey, wild forest reindeer (Rangifer tarandus fennicus) in Finland, in a predator-prey community in which moose (Alces alces) is the primary prey and the wolf (Canis lupus) is the generalist predator.

Methods: We examined a 22-year time series (1996-2017) to determine how the population size and the calf/female ratio of wild forest reindeer in Eastern Finland were related to the abundances of wolf and moose.

Reliable wolf-dog hybrid detection in Europe using a reduced SNP panel developed for non-invasively collected samples.

Background: Understanding the processes that lead to hybridization of wolves and dogs is of scientific and management importance, particularly over large geographical scales, as wolves can disperse great distances. However, a method to efficiently detect hybrids in routine wolf monitoring is lacking. Microsatellites offer only limited resolution due to the low number of markers showing distinctive allele frequencies between wolves and dogs.

The evolutionary history of grey wolf Y chromosomes.

Analyses of Y chromosome haplotypes uniquely provide a paternal picture of evolutionary histories and offer a very useful contrast to studies based on maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Here we used a bioinformatic approach based on comparison of male and female sequence coverage to identify 4.7 Mb from the grey wolf (Canis lupis) Y chromosome, probably representing most of the male-specific, nonampliconic sequence from the euchromatic part of the chromosome.

Can only poorer European countries afford large carnivores?

Background: One of the classic approaches in environmental economics is the environmental Kuznets curve, which predicts that when a national economy grows from low to medium levels, threats to biodiversity conservation increase, but they decrease when the economy moves from medium to high. We evaluated this approach by examining how population densities of the brown bear (Ursus arctos), gray wolf (Canis lupus), and Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) were related to the national economy in 24 European countries.

Methodology/principal Findings: We used forest proportions, the existence of a compensation system, and country group (former socialist countries, Nordic countries, other countries) as covariates in a linear model with the first- and the second-order polynomial terms of per capita gross domestic product (GDP).

Genetic substructure and admixture as important factors in linkage disequilibrium-based estimation of effective number of breeders in recovering wildlife populations.

The number of effective breeders ( ) and effective population size ( ) are population parameters reflective of evolutionary potential, susceptibility to stochasticity, and viability. We have estimated these parameters using the linkage disequilibrium-based approach with LDNE through the latest phase of population recovery of the brown bears () in Finland (1993-2010; = 621). This phase of the recovery was recently documented to be associated with major changes in genetic composition.

Non-invasive genetic monitoring involving citizen science enables reconstruction of current pack dynamics in a re-establishing wolf population.

Background: Carnivores are re-establishing in many human-populated areas, where their presence is often contentious. Reaching consensus on management decisions is often hampered by a dispute over the size of the local carnivore population. Understanding the reproductive dynamics and individual movements of the carnivores can provide support for management decisions, but individual-level information can be difficult to obtain from elusive, wide-ranging species.

Human behaviour can trigger large carnivore attacks in developed countries.

The media and scientific literature are increasingly reporting an escalation of large carnivore attacks on humans in North America and Europe. Although rare compared to human fatalities by other wildlife, the media often overplay large carnivore attacks on humans, causing increased fear and negative attitudes towards coexisting with and conserving these species. Although large carnivore populations are generally increasing in developed countries, increased numbers are not solely responsible for the observed rise in the number of attacks by large carnivores.

Y chromosome haplotype distribution of brown bears (Ursus arctos) in Northern Europe provides insight into population history and recovery.

High-resolution, male-inherited Y-chromosomal markers are a useful tool for population genetic analyses of wildlife species, but to date have only been applied in this context to relatively few species besides humans. Using nine Y-chromosomal STRs and three Y-chromosomal single nucleotide polymorphism markers (Y-SNPs), we studied whether male gene flow was important for the recent recovery of the brown bear (Ursus arctos) in Northern Europe, where the species declined dramatically in numbers and geographical distribution during the last centuries but is expanding now. We found 36 haplotypes in 443 male extant brown bears from Sweden, Norway, Finland and northwestern Russia.

Genome-wide analyses suggest parallel selection for universal traits may eclipse local environmental selection in a highly mobile carnivore.

Ecological and environmental heterogeneity can produce genetic differentiation in highly mobile species. Accordingly, local adaptation may be expected across comparatively short distances in the presence of marked environmental gradients. Within the European continent, wolves (Canis lupus) exhibit distinct north-south population differentiation.

What is the animal doing? Tools for exploring behavioural structure in animal movements.

Movement data provide a window - often our only window - into the cognitive, social and biological processes that underlie the behavioural ecology of animals in the wild. Robust methods for identifying and interpreting distinct modes of movement behaviour are of great importance, but complicated by the fact that movement data are complex, multivariate and dependent. Many different approaches to exploratory analysis of movement have been developed to answer similar questions, and practitioners are often at a loss for how to choose an appropriate tool for a specific question.

Evidence of rapid change in genetic structure and diversity during range expansion in a recovering large terrestrial carnivore.

Recovery of natural populations occurs often with simultaneous or subsequent range expansions. According to population genetic theory, genetic structuring emerges at the expansion front together with decreasing genetic diversity, owing to multiple founder events. Thereupon, as the expansion proceeds and connectivity among populations is established, homogenization and a resurgence of genetic diversity are to be expected.

Long-range gene flow and the effects of climatic and ecological factors on genetic structuring in a large, solitary carnivore: the Eurasian lynx.

Due to their high mobility, large terrestrial predators are potentially capable of maintaining high connectivity, and therefore low genetic differentiation among populations. However, previous molecular studies have provided contradictory findings in relation to this. To elucidate patterns of genetic structure in large carnivores, we studied the genetic variability of the Eurasian lynx, Lynx lynx throughout north-eastern Europe using microsatellite, mitochondrial DNA control region and Y chromosome-linked markers.

Recovery of large carnivores in Europe's modern human-dominated landscapes.

The conservation of large carnivores is a formidable challenge for biodiversity conservation. Using a data set on the past and current status of brown bears (Ursus arctos), Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx), gray wolves (Canis lupus), and wolverines (Gulo gulo) in European countries, we show that roughly one-third of mainland Europe hosts at least one large carnivore species, with stable or increasing abundance in most cases in 21st-century records. The reasons for this overall conservation success include protective legislation, supportive public opinion, and a variety of practices making coexistence between large carnivores and people possible.

Admixture and gene flow from Russia in the recovering Northern European brown bear (Ursus arctos).

Large carnivores were persecuted to near extinction during the last centuries, but have now recovered in some countries. It has been proposed earlier that the recovery of the Northern European brown bear is supported by migration from Russia. We tested this hypothesis by obtaining for the first time continuous sampling of the whole Finnish bear population, which is located centrally between the Russian and Scandinavian bear populations.

North-South differentiation and a region of high diversity in European wolves (Canis lupus).

European wolves (Canis lupus) show population genetic structure in the absence of geographic barriers, and across relatively short distances for this highly mobile species. Additional information on the location of and divergence between population clusters is required, particularly because wolves are currently recolonizing parts of Europe. We evaluated genetic structure in 177 wolves from 11 countries using over 67K single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci.

Free-ranging Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) as host of Toxoplasma gondii in Finland.

We investigated the presence of Toxoplasma gondii infections in Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) in Finland by analyzing samples from 337 lynx that were legally hunted during the 2010-2011 season and by performing a retrospective nationwide database search of postmortem toxoplasmosis diagnoses in this species. We detected specific anti-T. gondii IgG antibodies in 290 (86.

Endoparasites of the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) in Finland.

We sampled 339 fecal samples, 296 intestines, and 82 lungs from 371 lynx hunted during the 2010-2011 season in Finland. The fecal samples were analyzed for endoparasites by a quantitative flotation method, and helminths from intestines were studied morphologically, while lungs were investigated for pulmonary parasites. From fecal samples, eggs and oocysts of at least 6 different endoparasite species were identified, with a mean of 1.

Limited gene flow among brown bear populations in far Northern Europe? Genetic analysis of the east-west border population in the Pasvik Valley.

Noninvasively collected genetic data can be used to analyse large-scale connectivity patterns among populations of large predators without disturbing them, which may contribute to unravel the species' roles in natural ecosystems and their requirements for long-term survival. The demographic history of brown bears (Ursus arctos) in Northern Europe indicates several extinction and recolonization events, but little is known about present gene flow between populations of the east and west. We used 12 validated microsatellite markers to analyse 1580 hair and faecal samples collected during six consecutive years (2005-2010) in the Pasvik Valley at 70°N on the border of Norway, Finland and Russia.

Summer movements, predation and habitat use of wolves in human modified boreal forests.

Grey wolves (Canis lupus), formerly extirpated in Finland, have recolonized a boreal forest environment that has been significantly altered by humans, becoming a patchwork of managed forests and clearcuts crisscrossed by roads, power lines, and railways. Little is known about how the wolves utilize this impacted ecosystem, especially during the pup-rearing summer months. We tracked two wolves instrumented with GPS collars transmitting at 30-min intervals during two summers in eastern Finland, visiting all locations in the field, identifying prey items and classifying movement behaviors.

Sudden expansion of a single brown bear maternal lineage across northern continental Eurasia after the last ice age: a general demographic model for mammals?

The brown bear has proved a useful model for studying Late Quaternary mammalian phylogeography. However, information is lacking from northern continental Eurasia, which constitutes a large part of the species' current distribution. We analysed mitochondrial DNA sequences (totalling 1943 bp) from 205 bears from northeast Europe and Russia in order to characterize the maternal phylogeography of bears in this region.

Distance-dependent effect of the nearest neighbor: spatiotemporal patterns in brown bear reproduction.

In mammals, reproductive synchrony and reproductive suppression usually are found in social, group-living species, which often display hierarchical relationships among related animals. Some individuals, particularly younger, philopatric females beyond the age of sexual maturity, may not raise offspring because they are suppressed by other individuals. Although brown bears (Ursus arctos) are a solitary species, the existence of socially induced delayed primiparity of philopatric females has been documented.