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Radio Frequency Identifi cation Tags for Grizzly and Polar Bear Research

Grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) and polar bears (U. maritimus) are important species for subsistence communities along the Beaufort Sea coast for food, fur, and for their cultural importance. Both species are important components of arctic terrestrial and nearshore ecosystems and they interact with existing oil and gas development in the central Beaufort Sea region, and are likely to interact with new offshore and onshore developments. Much of our current knowledge about bear populations, habitat use, movements, and interactions with oil and gas activities on the North Slope has been the result of repeated observations of telemetrically collared bears (VHF and satellite). For polar bears in particular, much of the information comes from females and subadults because adult male bears have a low retention rate for collars due to their neck anatomy. Application of existing and emerging Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, currently used for military and commerce, has the potential to significantly increase the sample size of marked bears by decreasing the cost and providing a way to mark male bears. The goal of this research and development project was to test the feasibility of the RFID system for grizzly and polar bear research and management by modifying the tags so they could be attached to bear ears and by modifying the reader and antenna system for use in aircraft and land vehicles. RFID ear tags were placed on 52 polar bears and 22 grizzly bears in 2006 and 20 polar bears in 2007. Signals from tags were received from up to 500 m at ground level and up to 1.7 km from an aircraft at approximately 600 m altitude. Although RFID signal range exceeded our expectations, tag retention, especially for grizzly bear females with dependent young, was a major limitation. Due to the effective range of RFID tags other configurations (e.g., subcutaneous implants) may provide a solution to tag retention. Future potential applications of RFID technology for bear research and management include monitoring wildlife in areas where collars are inappropriate and monitoring movements at specific sites of interest such as carcasses and work sites.