There is a long and contentious history of brown bear (Ursus arctos) harvest management in Alaska, USA, the state that hosts the largest brown bear population in North America. In the mid‐1990s, the Alaska Board of Game set the population objective for brown bears in Game Management Unit 13 A, located in interior southcentral Alaska, to be reduced by 50% to improve survival of moose (Alces alces) calves. The Board began further liberalizing brown bear harvest regulations for the unit beginning in regulatory year 1995, though adult females and their dependent offspring (i.e., cubs <2 yrs old) were protected. To evaluate progress toward this abundance objective, we captured and collared bears between 2006 and 2011 and conducted a capture‐mark‐resight density survey during summer 2011 for comparison to a similar baseline survey conducted in 1998. We report the results of the density survey and vital rates estimated from resight histories of collared bears and harvest information spanning from 1985 (10 years before establishment of the population objective) to 2012. There was a 25–40% reduction in abundance between 1998 and 2011. Population growth rates derived from density estimates and a matrix population projection model indicated that the population declined by 2.3–4.2% annually. We estimated harvest rates to be 8–15% annually, but harvest composition data indicated no changes in skull size, age distribution, or overall sex ratio. There was evidence of an increase in the proportion of older females in the harvest. Demographic analysis indicated high reproductive output and recruitment, potentially indicating a density‐dependent compensatory response to reduced population size. Despite 13 years of harvest rates in excess of what had previously been considered to be sustainable for this population, the objective of reducing bear abundance by 50% had not been achieved as of 2011. The protection of females and dependent offspring in our study population appears to be a sufficient safeguard against a precipitous population decline while still permitting progress toward the population objective through high harvest on other segments of the population. © 2020 The Wildlife Society.

中文翻译：

---

收获对阿拉斯加棕熊种群的影响

美国阿拉斯加的棕熊（Ursus arctos）收割管理历史悠久，颇具争议，该州拥有北美最大的棕熊种群。在1990年代中期，阿拉斯加游戏委员会在阿拉斯加中南部内部的游戏管理部门13 A中将棕熊的种群目标设定为50％，以提高驼鹿的生存率（Alces alces）小牛。麻管局从1995年开始，开始对该单位的棕熊采伐规定进一步放宽，尽管成年雌性及其dependent属（即小于2岁的幼崽）受到了保护。为了评估实现该丰度目标的进展，我们在2006年至2011年之间捕获并抓捕了熊熊，并于2011年夏季进行了捕获标记检验密度调查，以与1998年进行的类似基线调查进行比较。我们报告了密度调查的结果，并根据1985年（确定人口目标之前的10年）至2012年的北极熊的回顾历史和收获信息估算的生命率。1998年至2011年，丰度降低了25-40％。从密度估计值和矩阵人口预测模型得出的人口增长率表明，人口每年下降2.3–4.2％。我们估计每年的收获率为8–15％，但收获组成数据表明头骨大小，年龄分布或总体性别比没有变化。有证据表明，收成中老年女性的比例有所增加。人口统计分析表明，该地区的生殖产量和补充量较高，可能表明人口减少导致密度依赖性的补偿性反应。尽管有13年的采伐率超过了以前认为对该种群可持续的水平，但截至2011年仍未实现将熊的数量减少50％的目标。在我们研究的人群中，保护雌性和后代子女似乎是防止人口急剧减少的充分保障，同时仍允许通过其他人群的高收成实现朝着人口目标的进步。©2020野生动物协会。