The Study Area

The Southern Study Area

The Southern Study Area is the core study area where the SBBRP has conducted the majority of its research since 1985. Located in Dalarna, Gävleborg, and Jämtland Counties in south-central Sweden (61°N, 15°E), the study area encompasses approximately 20,000 km . The study area has not been static through time, but rather contracted and expanded to adapt to logistic and research requirements. For example, at one point, the Southern Study Area included areas in and around Fulufjället National Park and the Älvdalens skjutfält or Älvdalens Military Range. The SBBRP stopped focused research efforts in Fulufjället National Park in 2022 due to distance-related logistical constraints. More recently, increased military activity has created access issues for the region within the Älvdalens Military Range. Thus, we have decreased our presence in the western portion of the study area and instead expanded northward to encompass up-and-coming multispecies research efforts in the area around Kårböle. Furthermore, the study area temporarily expanded to encompass the Idre Sámi Siida, or herding community, along its western border to collaboratively evaluate bear-reindeer interactions (2019-2024).

The landscape: The region is mostly composed of bogs, lakes, streams, and boreal forest which is dominated by Norway spruce (Picea abies) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), but deciduous trees such as mountain birch (Betula pubsecens), silver birch (Betula pendula), European aspen (Populus tremula), and gray alder

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(Alnus incana) are also relatively common. The boreal forest is intensively managed (about 80% of the forested area is managed) which results in a landscape that is comprised of clear cuts and forest at various stages of successional growth, most of which is less than 35 years old. Ground cover includes a shrub layer dominated by common juniper (Juniperus communis), willows (Salix spp.), and rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) and a ground layer that includes a variety of mosses, lichens, grasses, heather, and berries including blueberries (Vaccinium myrtillus), crowberries (Empetrum hermaphoditum), and lingonberries (Vaccinium vitis-idaea). The topography can generally be described as a rolling landscape, with elevations ranging between 200 and 1000 m. The elevation is greater in the western portion of the study area, near the border with Norway, where a small portion of the study area is above tree line (750 m). The mean temperature varies between summer and winter, averaging about -7° C in mid-winter (January) and 15° C in mid-summer (July) with annual precipitation ranging between 600 and 1,000 mm. The growing season generally lasts between 150 and 180 days, while snow covers the ground between late October until early May.

The bear population: This study area is centered in the southern part of the core brown bear distribution in Scandinavia. The majority of the bear population lives in this area, and it therefore also hosts the highest densities of brown bears in Scandinavia, averaging approximately 30 bear per 1000 km . Brown bears are intensively hunted across the entire area, except for in Fulufjället National Park, with the annual bear hunt starting from August 21 and ending by October 15, or earlier if quotas are filled. Up to this point (2023), almost 677 bears have been captured, collared, and followed in the study area using both VHF and GPS technology.

Human footprint: The Southern Study Area is generally sparsely populated, with about 4 to 7 inhabitants per km . However, the network of forestry roads used for logging in the region is quite dense, with about 0.7 km of forestry roads per square km and some high-traffic roads (0.14 km of high-traffic roads per square km). Logging and forestry are the main industries in the area, although semi-domestic reindeer herding does occur in the western portion of the study area in the Idre Sámi Siida.

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The Northern Study Area

The Northern Study Area was active between 1984 and 2013 and was located in Norrbotten County in northern Sweden just 100 km north of the arctic circle in an area that encompassed approximately 8,000 km (67°N, 18°E). Other more focused research efforts have taken place in and around this study area, including collaborations that involved the two Sámi Siida of Udtja and Gällivare.

The landscape: The northern study area covered more rugged terrain characterized by deep valleys, mountains, and high plateaus and glaciers. The valleys were dominated by Scots pine and Norway spruce, with mountain birch growing near the tree line, or below 600 m, with an understory of lichen (Cladina sp.) and ericaceous heather (Ericaceae sp.). The mountains and higher elevation plateaus reached up to 2000 m and were above tree line. The mean temperature varied between summer and winter, averaging about -13° C in mid-winter (January) and 13° C in mid-summer (July) with annual precipitation ranging between 500 and 1,000 mm. The growing season generally lasted between 110 and 130 days, while snow covered the ground between late October through late May. Unlike the southern study area, this study area included a large amount of protected national park land.

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Northern

The bear population: The bear population here was much smaller than the population in the Southern Study Area, with bear densities only reaching 7 bears per 1000 km . The bear population in this area was subject to legal hunting, but such hunting was restricted to a smaller proportion of the study area outside of protected areas. Between 1984 and 2013, about 254 individual brown bears, both male and female, were radiomarked and followed, mostly using VHF telemetry but using some GPS technology during the end of the study period.

Human footprint: The Northern Study Area is even more sparsely populated than the Southern Study Area, with about 0.3 to 1.2 inhabitants per km . Logging is equally intensive in the coniferous forest in the Northern Study Area. Semi-domestic reindeer herding took place within the majority of the study area, which spanned several Sámi Siida.