"Bear Me"

I finished my Ph.D. in 2012 at the Department of Biology, METU. I have studied brown bear spatio-temporal ecology and population estimation methods in northeastern part of Turkey. I received my BS in 2003 (Ecology and Biotechnology options) and MS in 2006 about the analysis of human-bear conflicts from METU. At the beginning of my graduate studies in 2003 and 2004, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) supported the my project, human-bear conflict analysis in northeastern Turkey.   I was working as a wildlife researcher or principal investigator for different projects especially in the Lesser Caucasus Region of Turkey (northeastern and eastern part) and central Anatolia between 2003 and 2010.  The projects that I have involved in e.g. GEF-II project in the first biosphere reserve of Turkey at the Camili Catchment Area; Lesser Caucasus, Anatolian Diagonal and Black Sea GAP Analysis Projects; EU Kaçkar Mountains Sustainable Forest Use and Conservation Project. Between 2011-2013 I was a team member of Anatolian Fallow Deer Reintroduction and Conservation Project supported by the National Research Council of Turkey and Wildlife Department. I have been working to conserve carnivores and endangered ungulates by collaborating with national and international authorities. I have been serving as an expert for different IUCN Species Survival Commissions such as brown bears, mountain ungulates (Capriane) and hyena. I am a Deputy Chair for the IUCN Bear Specialist Groups Asian Brown Bears Expert Team.  

I have been working in the Wildlife Ecology and Management Department of Duzce University since 2014. I studied with colleagues from Leibniz Institute Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin Germany in 2014 for a month about large carnivore ecology and genetics. I conducted post-doc studies at the University of Cambridge, UK between 2015 and 2016  as a member of the Conservation Science Group in the Department of Zoology about GPS-GSM telemetry and land sharing or sparing possibilities with large carnivores.  I was a visiting researcher at the Bavarian Forest National Park and the University of Freiburg in 2019 and Munich Technical University in 2020-2021 about large carnivores and ungulates protection and human-wildlife conflicts. Currently, I am the director for a TUBITAK project about estimating population sizes of ungulates by using modern techniques, and researcher for the endangered Anatolian leopard, and bear&wolves. 

I am experienced in using wildlife ecology equipment (collars, camera traps, receivers and remote communication devices), trapping (design and construction, foot snares and box traps) and monitoring (GPS-GSM, VHF and direct counts etc.). Besides, I am interested in investigating threatened cat species (leopard and lynx), and endangered ungulates (Anatolian chamois and ibex, fallow deer).

As first achievements in Turkey and Asia, I and my local team (Yaşar Kuşdili, Mevlüt Köse, and  veterinarians) succeeded in capturing of first brown bear in Turkey and Western Asia. We fitted a radio-collar a male bear in 2005 and continue investigating human-bear conflict, perception and attitude of local and brown bear ecology in the Kaçkar Mountains.  I prepared a first brown bear damage prevention booklet for Turkey in the  Kaçkar Mountains Project during 2011. I and my colleagues revealed first melanistic golden jackal photograph from Turkey in 2010. For the first time in western Asia,  I captured and fitted GPS-GSM collar to a wild goat or ibex and monitored one year. During our recent project of Anatolian fallow deer project, I and my colleagues captured and fitted around 20 GPS-GSM collars to fallow deer and monitoring them via camera traps and satellites after reintroduction to the Kuşadası National Park. I am the only researcher who established a course about human-wildlife conflicts in Turkey in 2014.

I am interested in making field trips for wildlife research to different ecosystems at remote locations, a good cook and  enthusiastic about mountaineering in untouched places. As a professional Nordic skier, I like also doing Nordic and Alpine touring. Member of the METU Mountaineering and Winter Sports club for more than 20 years and climbed the highest mountains in Turkey and I am also Search&Rescue team member.