Welcome to the first episode of Bear Necessities! In this episode, I am joined by Dr. Christie Sampson to discuss her career in wildlife ecology and experience researching bears in North America. Some highlights of the episode include: poop food trucks, microplastics everywhere, what it means to be "bear aware", and why bears are considered keystone species.

See below for more information on the subjects discussed in today's episode as well as contact information.

• Grizzly and polar bears as nonconsumptive cultural keystone species https://www.facetsjournal.com/doi/10.1139/facets-2020-0089#:~:text=Grizzly%20bears%20and%20polar%20bears,species%20even%20where%20not%20hunted.
• Ingested microplastics: Do humans eat one credit card per week? https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666911022000247#:~:text=Ingested%20Microplastic%20(MP)%20particles%20can,et%20al.%2C%202021).
• Salmon-supported bears, seed dispersal, and extensive resource subsidies to granivores https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ecs2.2297
• Microplastic inclusion in birch tree roots https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969721071618
• Berry-gorging bears disperse seeds through scat and feed small mammals https://today.oregonstate.edu/news/berry-gorging-bears-disperse-seeds-through-scat-and-feed-small-mammals

Host: Kathryn Nash - Senior at University of the Ozarks

Guest: Dr. Christie Sampson - Assistant professor at University of the Ozarks