Centre for Environmental Research and Impact Studies @ University of Bucharest

IntraBear

Project title: Intraspecific interactions shaping human-brown bear conflicts in the Romanian Carpathians

Project number: PN-IV-P2-2.1-TE-2023-0999

Contract number: 47 TE /2025

Funding body: Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding (UEFISCDI)

Budget: 499 998 RON

Period: 2025-2026

Research team:

Ioan Mihai Pop – Project coordinator

Anna Steluta Manolache – Post-doctoral researcher

Teodora Sin – Post-doctoral researcher

Aim

To advance the fundamental understanding of intraspecific interactions in an intact European brown bear population in the Romanian Carpathians and to evaluate if and how they influence the human-brown bear interactions.

Objectives

O1. Evaluate spatial and intraspecific interactions between brown bear sex and age groups, such as despotic behavior of dominant males, in a natural landscape using camera trap data.

O2. Assessing the main brown bears’ sex and age groups involved in frequent interactions with people in natural and human-dominated landscapes.

 O3. Evaluate the spatial and interspecific interactions between humans and bears in natural landscapes in the Eastern Carpathians using occupancy models.

 O4. Develop scientific capacity of young researchers to approach the complex field of population dynamics, to innovate in the use of occupancy models, and to further contribute to increase the visibility of Romanian research.