To determine if threatened brown bear (Ursus arctos) populations of Montana and Wyoming have lower levels of genetic variation than other North American populations, we examined mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and nuclear microsatellite DNA diversity in 220 brown bears from 5 areas: Kodiak Island, Alaska; Kluane National Park, Canada; Eastern Slope of the Rockies (East Slope), Canada; Yellowstone eco...

In this study, we have used a technique designed to target short fragments containing informative mitochondrial substitutions to extend the temporal limits of DNA recovery and study the molecular phylogeny of Ursus deningeri. We present a cladistic analysis using DNA recovered from 400 kyr old U. deningeri remains, which demonstrates U. deningeri's relation to Ursus spelaeus. This study extends...

The cave bear, Ursus spelaeus, represents one of the most frequently found paleontological remains from the Pleistocene in Europe. The species has always been confined to Europe and was contemporary with the brown bear, Ursus arctos. Relationships between the cave bear and the two lineages of brown bears defined in Europe, as well as the origins of the two species, remain controversial, mainly ...

Lethal population control has a history of application to wildlife management and conservation. There is debate about the efficacy practice, but more controversial ethical justification methods killing one species in favor another. This situation facing conservation woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) Canada. Across multiple jurisdictions, large numbers wolves (Canis lupus), lesser ext...

Subpopulation growth rates and the probability of decline at current harvest levels were determined for 13 subpopulations of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) that are within or shared with Canada based on mark-recapture estimates of population numbers and vital rates, and harvest statistics using population viability analyses (PVA). Aboriginal traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) on subpopulatio...

This article documents the public availability of raw transcriptome sequence data and 63,020 SNPs for the polar bear (Ursus maritimus).

While the location of wildlife mortalities provides some insight on cause death, identifying risk factors associated with mortality events and in which cases these result death requires information individual behaviour prior to death. With access a long-term database grizzly bear ( Ursus arctos L., 1758) GPS locations, we investigated how differed between individuals that died anthropogenic cau...