According to a recent U.S. Geological Survey, the Louisiana Black Bear that had been threatened with extinction now has less than a 1% chance of blinking out over the next 100 years........Historically, The bear once roamed eastern Texas, Louisiana, southern Arkansas and western Mississippi.............It was found that the estimated 350-500 Bears are intermingling among the four geographically separated populations in the state and this helped in researchers concluding that there was less than a 1% chance that all 4 groups of bears would simultaneously would face a calamity causing extinction..............Cannot help wonder if it is premature to come to this conclusion with at most 500 recovering Bears..............Tiny NJ has some 2000 Bruins..............Perhaps that is more the number researchers should be striving to see on the goround before calling for Delisting from the Federal Threatened list

USGS Study Looks at Louisiana Black Bear Population - MyArkLaMiss.com - KTVE NBC 10 -

USGS Study Looks at Louisiana Black Bear Population

By Associated Press                

11/19/2014 07:37 PM

                   

The Black Bear of Lake Louise (Harvey Barrison,

Harvey Barrison)

                                       

The threatened Louisiana black bear,

one of 18 subspecies of black bear in

 North America, has less than a 1 percent

 chance of going extinct in the next 100

 years. 

 

The bear species nicknamed “teddy”

 more than a century ago that inspired

 the iconic stuffed toy still popular today

will likely survive at least another century,

 according to a new U.S. Geological

Survey study.

 

The threatened Louisiana black bear,

 one of 18 subspecies of black bear in

 North America, has less than a 1

percent chance of going extinct in

the next 100 years.  The bear was

once found throughout Louisiana,

eastern Texas, southern Arkansas

 and western Mississippi. Habitat

loss and overhunting has since

reduced and fragmented the

 population resulting in its listing

 as threatened under the

Endangered Species Act in 1992.


The species was nicknamed the

 “teddy bear” in 1902 when

 President Theodore “Teddy”

Roosevelt famously refused

to shoot a tethered bear while

on a hunting trip.

 

To determine the viability of

the bear population today,

research funded primarily

by the Louisiana Department

of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF)

 used projections of population

growth over time based on

capture and radio-telemetry

 data to estimate the bear’s

extinction probability.

In some instances, scientists

captured and

released the bears to obtain

the data. At other times, they

 collected DNA extracted from

hair samples to identify

individual bears. The study

also used genetics and

capture data to evaluate

 how frequently individual

bears move between the

fragmented subpopulations

of Louisiana black bear in

 the Lower Mississippi

Alluvial Valley.

Connectivity among subpopulations

of a species is important to help

avoid genetic problems resulting

 from too much inbreeding.

These findings address goals

created in 1995 by the U.S. Fish

 and Wildlife Service for recovery.

 

“Estimates of a species’ viability

can help wildlife managers determine

 the status of threatened, endangered

 or at-risk species and guide effective

management efforts,” said Joseph

 Clark, the USGS research ecologist

 who led the study in collaboration

with Jared Laufenberg from the

University of Tennessee. “This

 study will be used by the U.S.

Fish and Wildlife Service to

determine whether to pursue

removing the bear from the

 ‘threatened’ species list.”

 

Researchers collected data with

DNA sampling, live capture,

winter den visits and monitoring

of radio-collared animals from

2002 to 2014. To collect the

 DNA samples, researchers set

 up barbed wire fences that bears

 had to cross to obtain pastry baits.

This method, which does not harm

 the bears, results in the bears

 leaving their DNA in the form of

 hair samples on the barbs, which

 scientists are able to use to identify

 the individual identities of each

 bear visiting the site.

 

“The completion of this project

 represents many years of

 collaborative work and we’re excited

 about the results,” said Maria

 Davidson, Louisiana Department

of Wildlife and Fisheries biologist

program manager.  “The information

provided by this project is based on

 the best available science, enabling

us to make management decisions

 focused on the long term

sustainability of the Louisiana

black bear.”

 

Bears in Louisiana primarily exist in

 four distinct subpopulations, and

data were sufficient for researchers

to perform viability analyses on

three of them. The probability of

these bears not going extinct ranged

 from 29.5 percent to greater than 99

 percent, depending on the

subpopulation and the assumptions

upon which the models were based. 

 However, the chances that all of the

 subpopulations will simultaneously

go extinct, based on the most c

onservative models, were only

 0.4 percent. The researchers also

 found that individual bears were

moving among some subpopulations.

 

Since originally being listed as

threatened in 1992, the Louisiana

black bear population has grown

and the habitat has recovered to

 the extent that the U.S. Fish and

Wildlife Service is considering

 “delisting,” or removing the bear

from the threatened species list.

This population growth is because

of state and federal protection of

the bears, a reintroduction project

 and habitat recovery aided by the

 Federal Conservation Reserve

Program and the Federal Wetlands

 Reserve Program.

 

The study was completed in

 cooperation with Louisiana

 Department of Wildlife and

Fisheries, U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Service, University of Tennessee

and Louisiana State University,

among others. The full study

-- Population Viability and

Connectivity of the Louisiana

Black Bear (Ursus americanus

 luteolus) -- is available online

 at: http://www.wlf.louisiana

.gov/louisiana-black-bear

-management-and-research.
-------------------------------------------------

Researchers find

 Louisiana black

 bear populations are intermingling

The swamps and woodlots of Louisiana
are home to a growing population of
black bears because distinct populations
 are beginning to intermingle.
(File photo) (File photo)

  By Todd Masson, NOLA.com |
 The Times-Picayune The Times-Picayune
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on August 12, 2014 at 3:22 PM,
updated August 12, 2014 at 3:25 PM 

           

Louisiana's black bears are making
huge strides toward recovery as the
 state's disparate populations appear
 to be intermingling, according to two
researchers who presented their
 findings Tuesday at a public meeting
 in Baton Rouge. Jared Laufenberg
 and Joseph Clark said efforts to
restore bear habitat, particularly
in the state's delta region, has paid
big dividends for the health of the
 population. Laufenberg studied
Louisiana's once-threatened bear
population as part of his University
 of Tennessee doctoral dissertation.


Louisiana black bears once ranged
 throughout the Bayou State and
into South Mississippi and East
Texas, but by the 1950s, the
distribution was profoundly
 reduced due to conversion of
 hardwood forests to croplands.
The population dwindled to only
80 to 120 bears remaining in a
tiny slice of the forested delta.
State biologists in the 1960s
 brought 161 bears down from
 Minnesota as part of a restocking
program, and by the 1990s,
 populations had become
established in the Tensas River
 Basin, the upper Atchafalaya
River Basin and the Lower
Atchafalaya Basin.


To help the population recover
further, officials enrolled Louisiana
 black bears in the Endangered Species
 Act program in 1992, and published
 a recovery plan in 1995. The three
recovery criteria were that there
 needed to be at least two viable
 populations, there had to be
movement corridors between
 them and the habitat needed
to be protected.


According to the information
 presented by Laufenberg and
 Clark, each of the goals appears
 to have been met.
"What is clear is that Louisiana
black bears are in much better
 condition than 22 years ago
 when they were listed," Clark
told the crowd attending the
 presentation.


One of the many reasons is
that state biologists from 2001
through 2009 transferred some
of the bears from the established
Tensas River Basin population to
 the Three Rivers area to seed a
"stepping-stone" population
between the Tensas population
 and another distinct group of
bears in the Upper Atchafalaya Basin.


The plan has worked well, Clark
explained. Bears have gotten
 well-established in the Three
Rivers area, and the females have
 begun to intermingle with males
from the Upper Atchafalaya Basin
 population. In general, female
black bears disperse very little,
 while males roam great distances
 looking for mates. This trait has
evolved to reduce inbreeding
 in bear populations, Clark said.
Because of the stepping-stone
 population in the Three Rivers
 area, the genes of the Upper
Atchafalaya Basin bears have
been found all the way up in
the Tensas River population,
 Clark said.


"Without that Three Rivers
population, I doubt we would
 have had any interchange
between Upper Atchafalaya
 Basin and Tensas River
Basin (bears)," he said.
Although males from the
Atchafalaya Basin population
 are migrating up to Three Rivers,
none from that area seem to be
 moving down to the Atchafalaya
 Basin, and the researchers are
baffled as to why.


One possibility, Clark said, is
that the bears are finding natural
 funnels moving in one direction
 but not the other.
Once the males get to the Three
Rivers area, they're finding easy
pickings. The area is dominated
 by females because that's mostly
 what biologists transferred there.
"The Three Rivers area was
stocked with females that were
 producing cubs in the Tensas River
 Basin," Laufenberg said. "That's
 not a bad thing. If you're going to
stock a place, why not stock it
with good numbers of females
 who are producing cubs?"
Those migrating males are doing
 a good job spreading their genes
 among the populations. Of 35
cubs recently tested in the area
, 20 were sired by males that had
come from the Upper Atchafalaya
 Basin population, Clark said.


The state's population has just
 completed its breeding season,
 which is in June and July,
Laufenberg said, and the
females will give birth in
January or February while
they are denned up for the
winter.


Although there is no official
estimate for the size of the
black-bear population
throughout Louisiana, Clark
 and Laufenberg gave a rough
 guess of between 258 and 283
 females combined in the Tensas,
Upper Atchafalaya and Lower
Atchafalaya populations.