The project titled ‘The Role of Grizzly Bear on the Biodiversity of the Ecosystem under Different Scenarios of Brown Bear-Human Coexistence,’ in which Kastamonu University Araç Rafet Vergili Vocational School, Department of Forestry, Hunting and Wildlife Programme Faculty Member Dr. Alper Ertürk is the executive director of the Turkish leg and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Anıl Soyumert Ertürk, the researcher, has been entitled to be supported within the scope of the TÜBİTAK - Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS) Bilateral Cooperation Programme.
The field and laboratory studies of the project in Turkey will be carried out jointly with Ankara University Evolutionary Genetics Laboratory, where Prof. Dr. Emre Keskin is the lead researcher. Dr Peter Kaňuch will lead the Slovakia leg of the project.
This international collaboration project, which will be carried out with expert researchers from three scientific institutions, one in Slovakia and two in Turkey, aims to investigate the role of brown bears in shaping forest biodiversity. The project will examine the complex effects of habitat variation and human activities on the foraging behavior of brown bears. Throughout the three-year project, comprehensive research will combine modern genomic methods, field endocrinology, and photo-capture techniques in wildlife ecology.
Our Rector, Prof. Dr. Ahmet Hamdi Topal, described this project, which was entitled to be supported within the framework of international cooperation, as a valuable work on behalf of our University and thanked all the researchers who contributed to the project.
Stating that the support provided by TUBITAK and the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS) will make significant contributions to the advancement of scientific research at the international level, our Rector expressed his gratitude to Prof. Dr. Orhan Aydın, President of TUBITAK, for his encouraging approach to the institutions in project studies.
