Team

Black bears (Ursus americanus) are sensitive to overexploitation due to their low reproduction rate, which depends on food availability. In Quebec, black bear management is currently based on surveys carried out in a single region in the early 1990s. Management decisions are thus based on outdated data, increasing risk of overexploitation in this species. Using a 10-year database obtained from monitoring black bears in four bioclimatic domains in Quebec, my project aims to quantify adult survival rate and to determine which factors affect survival in adult black bears. This includes environmental variables, such as geographic region, habitat composition, and food resources, as well as individual traits, such as body condition, age, reproductive status (female with or without cubs) and sex. Ultimately, the results of my project will allow updating models of population dynamics in black bears, and hence improving management decisions.