UNITY, Maine — A bear study at Unity College is wrapping up its third year.
Students and faculty have been collaborating to learn about the lives and habits of the Maine black bears who are moving into the college's area. In the study's three years, teams of undergraduate wildlife biology students have captured and collared 23 different bears in the Unity area's expanding population. They then look at the bears' feeding, breeding and territorial patterns.
Unity Wildlife Biologist George Matula says the area's population is fairly new, because it hasn't been forested as long as many others in the state.
"If you look at the history of this area, a lot of this was farmland, but as the farms were abandoned this land became reforested," he says.
Matula says, with the study population's central Maine habitat — which is close to Interstate 95 — there's one area that clearly needs more study.
"The affects of roads and roadkill on the colonization of this area," Matula says. "We suspect that the roads are having an impact on the bears here."
Three bears tagged in the study have been killed by cars; researchers are looking at data from the Maine Department of Transportation to gather and make use of roadkill data.
The Unity College bear study doesn't yet have funding to support another summer field season. The researchers are looking for funding to continue it long term.
