High Habitat Potential but Limited Connectivity for Brown Bears Throughout Europe Merijn van den Bosch Marta De Barba Andreas Zedrosser Nuria Selva Niko Balkenhol Luigi Maiorano Julien Renaud Gregor Simcic Ainhoa Graciarena Shane C. Frank Anne G. Hertel Aida Parres Hüseyin Ambarlı Andriy‐Taras Bashta Natalia Bragalanti Henrik Brøseth Mark Chynoweth Duško Ćirović Paolo Ciucci Csaba Domokos Aleksandar Dutsov Alper Ertürk Ancuta Fedorca Mihai Fedorca Stefano Filacorda Slavomir Finďo Luca Fumagalli Miguel de Gabriel Hernando Claudio Groff Snorre B. Hagen Bledi Hoxha Djuro Huber Otso Huitu Georgeta Ionescu Ovidiu Ionescu Klemen Jerina Alexandros A. Karamanlidis Jonas Kindberg Ilpo Kojola Alexander Kopatz Diana Krajmerová José Vicente López‐Bao Peep Männil Yorgos Mertzanis Anja Molinari‐Jobin Paolo Molinari Andrea Mustoni Javier Naves Sergey Ogurtsov Deniz Özüt Santiago Palazon Jasmin Pasic Ladislav Paule Milan Paunović Aleksandar Perovic Stefano Pesaro Vladimir Piminov Mihai I. Pop Maria Psaralexi Pierre Yves Quenette Georg Rauer Slaven Reljic Eloy Revilla Urmas Saarma Alexander Saveljev Ali Onur Sayar Cagan Sekercioglu Agnieszka Sergiel Tomaz Skrbinsek Michaela Skuban Anil Soyumert Aleksandar Stojanov Konstantin Tirronen Aleksandër Trajçe Igor Trbojević Tijana Trbojević Filip Zięba Diana Zlatanova Tomasz Zwijacz‐Kozica Jerrold L. Belant Habitat Connectivity Habitat Suitability Large Carnivore Recolonisation Species Distribution Model Ursus Arctos application/pdf Diversity and Distributions Text Wissenschaftlicher Artikel doi:10.1111/ddi.70130 eng Text journal article Open Access © 2025 The Author(s) open access Wiley Documento PDF Articolo scientifico Aim Large carnivores worldwide have experienced substantial range contractions due to human activities, though several species are recolonising parts of their historical range. We aimed to assess current and potential European brown bear (Ursus arctos arctos) habitat as well as habitat connectivity on a continental scale. Location The extended biogeographical regions of Europe, spanning from Portugal to central Russia, longitudinally, and from Norway to Türkiye, latitudinally. Excluding inland seas; this area covers 11,151,636 km2. Methods We assessed habitat suitability throughout the study area using an ensemble species distribution model with nine submodels, using data from 10 European bear populations and Türkiye. We used the resulting habitat suitability maps to conduct a least-cost path connectivity analysis and an omnidirectional circuit connectivity analysis. Main Conclusions Habitat suitability was strongly associated with low percentages of agricultural cover, low percentages of human development, and proximity to forest. Of our entire study area, 37% (4.09 million km2) is occupied or potentially suitable for bears. Connectivity analyses identified corridors that could facilitate movement among southern European bear populations, though agricultural land and human development limit connectivity between northern and southern European bear populations. Previous research estimated bears occupied 0.5 million km2 across the European Union, while our results estimate 1.82 million km2 of this part of our study area is potentially suitable for bears, though connectivity is limited. Our results inform conservation strategies and policy development for the future of brown bears in Europe, emphasising the need for transboundary conservation efforts. 2026 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:5275