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Noninvasive Estimation of Black Bear Abundance Incorporating Genotyping Errors and Harvested Bear |
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| Authors: | BRIAN P DREHER SCOTT R WINTERSTEIN KIM T SCRIBNER PAUL M LUKACS DWAYNE R ETTER GUILHERME J M ROSA VERONICA A LOPEZ SCOT LIBANTS KRISTI B FILCEK |
| Institution: | 1. Michigan State University, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, 13 Natural Resources Building, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
E-mail: brian.dreher@state.co.us Colorado Division of Wildlife, 4255 Sinton Road, Colorado Springs, CO 80907, USA;2. Michigan State University, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, 13 Natural Resources Building, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA.;3. Michigan State University, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, 13 Natural Resources Building, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA;4. Colorado Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, 1484 Campus Delivery, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA Colorado Division of Wildlife, 317 West Prospect, Fort Collins, CO 80526, USA;5. Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Division, P.O. Box 30444, Lansing, MI 48909, USA;6. Michigan State University, Department of Animal Science, 1205I Anthony Hall, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA University of Wisconsin-Madison, 456 Animal Science Building, 1675 Observatory Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA;7. Michigan State University, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, 13 Natural Resources Building, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, 1170 Fourth Avenue S., Park Falls, WI 84552, USA |
| Abstract: | ABSTRACT Estimating black bear (Ursus americanus) population size is a difficult but important requirement when justifying harvest quotas and managing populations. Advancements in genetic techniques provide a means to identify individual bears using DNA contained in tissue and hair samples, thereby permitting estimates of population abundance based on established mark-capture-recapture methodology. We expand on previous noninvasive population-estimation work by geographically extending sampling areas (36,848 km2) to include the entire Northern Lower Peninsula (NLP) of Michigan, USA. We selected sampling locations randomly within biologically relevant bear habitat and used barbed wire hair snares to collect hair samples. Unlike previous noninvasive studies, we used tissue samples from harvested bears as an additional sampling occasion to increase recapture probabilities. We developed subsampling protocols to account for both spatial and temporal variance in sample distribution and variation in sample quality using recently published quality control protocols using 5 microsatellite loci. We quantified genotyping errors using samples from harvested bears and estimated abundance using statistical models that accounted for genotyping error. We estimated the population of yearling and adult black bears in the NLP to be 1,882 bears (95% CI = 1,389-2,551 bears). The derived population estimate with a 15% coefficient of variation was used by wildlife managers to examine the sustainability of harvest over a large geographic area. |
| Keywords: | black bear genotyping error hair snare mark-recapture Michigan microsatellite noninvasive population estimation subsampling Ursus americanus |