RAPID: Just-in-Time North Dakota Black Bear Research

A goal of the Tribal Colleges and Universities Program (TCUP) is to increase the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) instructional and research capacities of the Nation's Tribal colleges and universities (TCUs). Expanding the STEM curricular and research offerings at these institutions expands the opportunities of their students to pursue challenging, rewarding careers in STEM fields, provides for research studies in areas that may be culturally or scientifically significant, and encourages a community and generational appreciation for science and mathematics education. This project aligns directly with that goal. Black bear populations in North Dakota vanished in the early 20th century but are now recovering, and the first indications of breeding populations has led to the potential for legal hunting. Since the abundance, distribution, and density of these bears are not known, it is crucial to obtain non-invasive DNA samples to establish population structure, survival, and movement of bears within the forested regions of the state. Samples will be obtained for a spatially-explicit capture-recapture (SECR) study design using passive hair snares. DNA will be isolated from follicles and sequenced using Genotyping-in-Thousands (GT-seq) methods to identify individuals. It is critical to obtain this information to inform conservation management decisions and establish an analytical framework model that can be shared with other regions. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. NSF Award ID: 2627251 | Program: 04002627DB NSF STEM Education | Principal Investigator: Jeremy Guinn | Institution: United Tribes Technical College, BISMARCK, ND | Award Amount: $200,000 View on NSF Award Search: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/show-award/?AWD_ID=2627251 View on Research.gov: https://www.research.gov/awardapi-service/v1/awards/2627251.html