Human-polar Bear Interactions on the Northern Coast of Alaska
Human-polar Bear Interactions on the Northern Coast of Alaska

Author: Gwendolyn Quigley

Publisher:

Published: 2022

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are sea ice-dependent marine mammals that, due to reductions in sea ice extent in the southern Beaufort Sea, are increasing their time spent on shore. Simultaneously, the anthropogenic footprint on the northern coast of Alaska is growing. As a result, human-polar bear interactions in this region are increasing. These interactions have the potential to be dangerous for humans, harmful to polar bears, and, therefore, require deliberate management. In this thesis, I examined two study systems that lacked the depth of knowledge necessary to craft defensible management plans. My research generated information regarding human-polar bear interactions that could be used to shape policy in the Arctic. In Chapter 1, I explored a dataset that documented human-polar bear interactions at a popular polar bear viewing area in Kaktovik, Alaska. My objectives were to determine what factors influence 1) polar bear displacement (temporary or permanent) from the viewing area and 2) human response (assertive or neutral) to an approaching bear. Using logistic regression, I determined that permanent polar bear displacement was more likely later in the observation season and when the bear’s initial reaction to a human approach occurred as a greater distance. I also found that humans were more likely to act assertively towards a bear when food resources (i.e., whale bone pile) in the area were depleted. These behavioral patterns indicate that human and bear tolerance change over time and in relation to resource availability. In Chapter 2, I conducted the first systematic evaluation of polar bear behavioral response to overhead aircraft traffic. I conducted field sampling in a fixed-wing aircraft and observed polar bear response at varying altitudes. My goal was to intentionally elicit a behavioral response that, under the guidelines in the Marine Mammal Protection Act, would be considered biologically significant. My objectives were then to 1) predict when a polar bear would exhibit a biologically significant behavioral response and 2) estimate the probability of an aircraft eliciting a biologically significant response at different altitudes above the animal. Using linear regression and a hierarchical Bayesian approach, I found that bears were most likely to exhibit a biologically significant response when they were active prior to sampling, located on the mainland coast, and the aircraft approach altitude was less than 457m (1500ft). Furthermore, I found that the probability of eliciting a biologically significant behavioral response at a flight altitude of 30m (100ft) was 21.31% for an inactive bear on a barrier island and 61.46% for an active bear on the mainland coast. Together, these research efforts address pressing knowledge gaps related to polar bear behavior on the northern coast of Alaska. Information generated from this project can be used to inform management and reduce disturbance for polar bears in a changing Arctic.

Human Interaction and Disturbance of Denning Polar Bears on Alaska's North Slope
Human Interaction and Disturbance of Denning Polar Bears on Alaska's North Slope

Author: Wesley G. Larson

Publisher:

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 11

ISBN-13:

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Across the central coast of Alaska’s North Slope, human-polar bear interactions concern both industry and wildlife managers alike. In response to sea ice reductions due to climate change, parturient polar bears (Ursus maritimus) in the Southern Beaufort Sea subpopulation are increasingly accessing coastal topography for suitable denning habitat. Land-denning bears are more susceptible to anthropogenic stressors, chiefly in areas with high levels of energy exploration, extraction, and production. For over 30 years, denning polar bears in the Southern Beaufort Sea subpopulation have been monitored directly or through opportunistic observations. Scientists have opportunistically recorded polar bear responses to aircraft, snow machines, track vehicles, heavy machinery, trucks, dogs, and humans afoot within the denning area. The long-term nature of this work and associated human-bear interaction observations represent a unique dataset that provides insight to wildlife managers into the way polar bears have responded to anthropogenic stimuli in active oil fields. Our objective here is to analyze the different disturbance stimuli at den sites and the associated bear responses. To do so, we subdivided potential stimuli into four groups based on the size, noise levels, and motion of each. Both field notes and video recordings of interactions were analyzed and ranked by response intensity where available. We found significant probabilities for disturbance among all stimulus classes, with aircraft showing the highest potential for initiating den abandonment. However, while all human activities elicited varying degrees of response, the overall response intensity was less than anticipated, even under high-use scenarios. Our data indicate that the current guideline of a 1.6 km (1 mile) buffer zone effectively minimizes disturbance to denning polar bears. These data will provide both wildlife managers and industry with information that can be used to promote polar bear conservation through minimizing disturbance and informing the development of alternative actions for dealing with bears denned near industrial activity.

Human-bear Interactions in the North Slope Oilfields of Alaska (USA)
Human-bear Interactions in the North Slope Oilfields of Alaska (USA)

Author: Nils J. S. Pedersen

Publisher:

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13:

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Minimizing unsafe human-bear (Ursus spp.) interactions in the North Slope oilfields of Alaska (USA) requires knowledge of where they occur and methods to prevent them. My research goals were to characterize the spatial and temporal dynamics of grizzly bear (U. arctos) sightings during the non-denning season around industrial infrastructure in the North Slope oilfields over the past 25 years (Chapter 2), and to evaluate the efficacy of forward-looking infrared (FLIR) systems to detect grizzly bears and polar bears (U. maritimus) in their winter dens (Chapter 3). I used reports (n = 2,453) of summer grizzly bear sightings collected by oilfield security officers from 1990–2014 to estimate how the spatial distribution of sightings for food-conditioned (FC) and natural food (NF) bears changed following restriction of bear access to anthropogenic food waste (to be known hereafter as “treatment”) in 2001. I found that concentrations of FC bear sightings shifted toward the landfill with medium-low effect (Hedges’ g = 0.41), one of the only remaining areas with available food waste, after the treatment. The treatment also decreased NF bear sighting distances to landfill with low effect (Hedges’ g = 0.15). My findings suggested that grizzly bear access to food waste should be prevented to minimize negative human-bear interactions and that an active bear reporting system facilitates adaptive management of human-bear interactions. During the winter, grizzly bears and pregnant female polar bears enter dens in areas that overlap anthropogenic activity. FLIR techniques have been used to locate occupied dens by detecting heat emitted from denned bears. However, the effects of environmental conditions on den detection have not been rigorously evaluated. I used a FLIR-equipped Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) to collect images of artificial polar bear (APD) and grizzly bear (AGD) dens from horizontal and vertical perspectives from December 2016 to April 2017 to assess how odds of detection changed relative to den characteristics and environmental conditions. I used logistic regression to estimate effects of 11 weather variables on odds of detection using 291 images. I found that UAS-FLIR detected APDs two times better than AGDs, vertical perspective detected 4 times better than horizontal, and that lower air temperatures and wind speeds, and the absence of precipitation and direct solar radiation increased odds of detection for APDs. An increase of 1°C air temperature lowered the odds of detection by 12% for APD, and 8% for AGDs, but physical den characteristics such as den snow wall thickness determined detectability of AGDs. UAS-FLIR surveys should be conducted on cold, clear days, with calm winds and minimal solar radiation, early in the denning season. UAS-FLIR detectionof bear dens can be effective but should be confirmed by a secondary method.

Never Look a Polar Bear in the Eye
Never Look a Polar Bear in the Eye

Author: Zac Unger

Publisher: Hachette+ORM

Published: 2013-01-29

Total Pages: 322

ISBN-13: 030682163X

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"I like to go out for walks, but it's a little awkward to push the baby stroller and carry a shotgun at the same time." -- housewife from Churchill, Manitoba Yes, welcome to Churchill, Manitoba. Year-round human population: 943. Yet despite the isolation and the searing cold here at the arctic's edge, visitors from around the globe flock to the town every fall, driven by a single purpose: to see polar bears in the wild. Churchill is "The Polar Bear Capital of the World," and for one unforgettable "bear season," Zac Unger, his wife, and his three children moved from Oakland, California, to make it their temporary home. But they soon discovered that it's really the polar bears who are at home in Churchill, roaming past the coffee shop on the main drag, peering into garbage cans, languorously scratching their backs against fence posts and front doorways. Where kids in other towns receive admonitions about talking to strangers, Churchill schoolchildren get "Let's All Be Bear Aware" booklets to bring home. (Lesson number 8: Never explore bad-smelling areas.) Zac Unger takes readers on a spirited and often wildly funny journey to a place as unique as it is remote, a place where natives, tourists, scientists, conservationists, and the most ferocious predators on the planet converge. In the process he becomes embroiled in the controversy surrounding "polar bear science" -- and finds out that some of what we've been led to believe about the bears' imminent extinction may not be quite the case. But mostly what he learns is about human behavior in extreme situations . . . and also why you should never even think of looking a polar bear in the eye.

Proceedings of the First International Scientific Meeting on the Polar Bear
Proceedings of the First International Scientific Meeting on the Polar Bear

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 1966

Total Pages: 84

ISBN-13:

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Proceedings of the first International Scientific Meeting on the Polar Bear, held in Fairbanks, Alaska in 1965, to report on the current state of knowledge of the biology, ecology and conservation needs of the polar bear (Ursus maritimus) in Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Scandinavia and the Soviet Union.

Human-bear Interactions Among Black Bears in Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah, and Polar Bears on Alaska's North Slope
Human-bear Interactions Among Black Bears in Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah, and Polar Bears on Alaska's North Slope

Author: Wesley G. Larson

Publisher:

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 89

ISBN-13:

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Human-bear interactions are an important consideration of bear biology, as interactions can lead to destruction of property as well as injury or death for both human and bear. Successful analysis of why these interactions occur can lead to appropriate preventative measures and mitigation of further conflict. Bryce Canyon National Park (BRCA) is comprised of relatively poor bear habitat, but a black bear population exists on the Paunsaugunt Plateau, on which the park occupies the eastern edge. Park managers expressed interest in learning more about bear movements and, specifically, bear use of anthropogenic features following a number of human-bear incidents located at backcountry campsites within park boundaries. By analyzing data from GPS radio-collared bears, trail cameras, existing literature, park incident reports and in-depth campsite assessments, we were able to show how bears are using both natural and anthropogenic features on the Bryce landscape. Campsites were assessed for bear habitat, displacement and encounter potential in order to establish an overall human-bear conflict potential. AIC model selection and resource selection functions using GPS collar data showed that bears selected for some anthropogenic features (campsites, springs), while actively avoiding others (trails, roads). Trail camera data, existing literature and park incident reports all pointed toward use of trails. We then considered all data sources used in the analysis and compiled rankings of human-bear conflict potential for each of the backcountry campsites within BRCA, and submitted a detailed report of findings, conclusions and recommendations to NPS personnel.