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.