Grizzly Bears and Climate Change: What Might the Future Bring?

Dr. Cecily Costello, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Research Wildlife Biologist

Grizzly bears (also known as brown bears) are habitat generalists, feed on a huge variety to plant and animal foods, and have the largest distribution of any bear species in the world.  Here in northern Montana they utilize habitats from the river bottoms to the alpine, and from the mountains to the prairies as they seek out hundreds of different food types, including roots, berries, insects, fish, and other mammals. Their broad habitat, dietary requirements, and home ranges can bring grizzly bears into direct competition with humans for land and resources, and human-bear conflicts inevitably arise.  With this perspective in mind, Dr. Costello will discuss potential impacts of a changing climate on grizzly bear populations, including their habitat, food sources, and behaviors, and what these changes may portend for their future relationship with humans.  

Dr. Cecily Costello began working as a Wildlife Research Biologist for FWP in 2015. She supervises the Grizzly Bear Trend Monitoring program in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem and is a member of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. She has studied black bears or grizzly bears for 35 years in various states, including Montana, New Mexico, Wyoming, New York, and Vermont. Cecily has a PhD from Montana State University and has been the associate editor of Ursus since 2006.