This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) provides $511,998 to the University of California, Santa Cruz to integrate genomics into long-term monitoring of grizzly bear populations in the lower 48 states. The key products and services to be delivered include:
Developing new genetic tools to rapidly sequence and identify individual brown bears using non-invasive samples. The project will characterize genomic diversity in brown bear populations over the last 200 years to analyze the impact of past conservation management decisions, such as population translocations. The Smithsonian Institution's Center for Conservation Genomics will provide technical services, including extracting DNA from 150 grizzly bear museum specimens, constructing genomic libraries, and performing sequencing and bioinformatic analyses. This collaborative research effort aims to yield new insights into how small animal populations can persist and establish a genetic database to support future brown bear conservation and management efforts.
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