Tibor Hartel
@thartel.bsky.social
Conservation biology, social-ecological systems, wood-pastures, large carnivores, urban green spaces.
Final call: To broaden geographic and institutional coverage, we are seeking more responses from European researchers and professionals working on human-large carnivore coexistence. Survey: approximately 15 minutes. Reposts are warmly appreciated. tinyurl.com/3tmce2yh
Weekdays vs weekends in our forest When more people visit (weekends), bears go almost fully nocturnal. On quieter weekdays they reclaim the daytime - active by day nearly half the time vs ~ a fifth at weekends. Coexistence works because bears do the avoiding.
Nature's Engineers By rooting, wild boars turn over the soil, incorporate organic matter, create microsites for plant germination, and influence invertebrate communities.
Preparing for EUTOPIA Research Days 2026 in Gothenburg. I’ll discuss biocultural landscapes as infrastructures of wellbeing: places where biodiversity, heritage, care and community resilience meet, and where the TEK conundrum raises questions of labour, agency, entitlement and choice.
Oh yeah… now all the bear girls in the neighborhood - and the other males - will know who the new kid in town is.
This bear is communicating. By rubbing its body against the trunk, it leaves scent signals that can carry information about identity, sex or reproductive status. Such spots become real "notice boards" for bears and may be used by several individuals, year after year.
The paradox is striking: in Romania, formal institutions blame NGOs for not implementing human–bear coexistence, although NGOs do not decide public policy. NGOs are vital in democracy, not substitutes for the state. Those with decision-making power blame those without it. The bear simply walks away.
Seasonal bear fashion. We cannot be sure it is pollen, but the yellowish-green coating on its fur suggests it has spent plenty of time in flowering forests and meadows. It seems that even a bear's wardrobe adapts to its habitat. The green shirt suits it surprisingly well.
A curious bear wandered beneath the camera and paused long enough to leave its mark. Its warm breath condensed on the lens, briefly turning the forest into a soft, misty scene. This is being "just a breath away." See the bear in the attached pic.
First month of camera trap survey yielded 63 583 pictures.
It’s the weekend, and a bear is preparing its resting place and enjoying a well-deserved siesta. Wishing you a wonderful weekend!
Very happy to share that our paper, “Brown bear feeding and fencing dynamics in ancient wood-pastures: implications for coexistence in cultural landscapes”, has been accepted in Ecology and Society, a flagship journal in social-ecological systems and resilience research. #SESCARNIVORE
Honoured to keynote at ForestConnect on climate-smart forest connectivity for large carnivores. I spoke about how social-ecological systems thinking can improve coexistence governance across Europe’s shared landscapes.
A small ask from us: if your professional work touches large carnivores anywhere in Europe (management, research, advocacy, policy, fieldwork) please consider taking our survey. We're trying to understand coexistence from a social-ecological perspective. forms.office.com/pages/respon...
The cynical motto of non-implementation: “Human lives matter more than nature.” But in practice, people are not protected either. They are used as an argument against nature, while institutions fail to deliver prevention, protection and responsibility. That is not care. It is cost transfer.
European badgers drag dry leaves, grass, and bracken into their setts with their forelegs, shuffling backwards to the entrance. Old, parasite-laden bedding is periodically hauled out and dumped nearby. This turnover reduces fleas and ticks, controls chamber humidity, and peaks in spring with cubs.
Romania’s bear conflict is also a governance failure: EU-style prevention exists, but is poorly implemented. As conflicts grow, institutional inaction is reframed as “Europe failed” or “greens blocked solutions”. Human suffering becomes social polarization.
Wild boars (Sus scrofa) often return to certain “rubbing trees” after wallowing in mud, likely for skin care, reducing ectoparasites, and scent marking. While we sleep, the forest is active.
Wild cat followed by domestic cat on a human made path in the forest.
A lynx recorded within our SESCARNIVORE project, in a Natura 2000 site approximately 10 km from the nearest settlement, in a cultural landscape. Its presence is a reminder of how important natural quietness, low noise levels, and minimal human disturbance are for wildlife in such habitats.
These days I shared some camera trap pictures collected within our project. Now a short account on our website. sescarnivore.ro/blog11.html
Wildlife activity and temporal partitioning in shared landscapes - SESCARNIVORE
Camera-trap images and footage document the use of forest roads by large carnivores, ungulates, and humans, providing evidence of temporal partitioning as a coexistence mechanism.
sescarnivore.ro
New post on our SESCARNIVORE site: Bringing SESCARNIVORE to Local Communities sescarnivore.ro/blog10.html?...
