Using GIS to Identify Habitat Characteristics and Requirements of the Black Bear in the Fragmented Chassahowitzka Ecosystem

Using GIS to Identify Habitat Characteristics and Requirements of the Black Bear in the Fragmented Chassahowitzka Ecosystem

Judith S. Smith University of Kentucky Department of Forestry Lexington, Kentucky jssmit7@pop.uky.edu	David S. Maehr University of Kentucky Department of Forestry Lexington, Kentucky	Mark W. Cunningham University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine Department of Pathobiology Gainesville, Florida

Elizabeth G. Springborn University of Kentucky Department of Forestry Lexington, Kentucky	Tom M. Matthews Florida Department of Environmental Protection Office of Coastal and Aquatic Managed Areas Crystal River State Buffer Preserve Crystal River, Florida	Tom Hoctor Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation University of Florida Gainesville, Florida

ABSTRACT

The Chassahowitzka black bear in west central Florida is likely the smallest bear population in the United States. Constrained by development and mining to the south, east, and north, and by the Gulf of Mexico to the west, it is isolated from larger Florida black bear populations by at least 100 km. Habitat used by the Chassahowitzka population increasingly is fragmented by development. Facets of our study include determining how the Chassahowitzka black bear utilizes available habitat, how fragmentation (by highways, canals, mines, and neighborhoods) affects dispersal and habitat use, and identifying critical habitat in need of protection. Using GIS, locations of 12 radio-collared bears (approximately 60 % of the population) were overlaid on a variety of data layers to determine habitat use, core habitat areas, home range sizes, movement patterns, and key landscape (natural and anthropogenic) features. Kernal home range estimates were developed for individual bears using the Animal Movement Analysis (with Spatial Analyst) extension (Hooge and Elchenlaub, 1997) in Arcview. Average home range size at the 95% level was 16,437 ha for males and 2,249 ha for females. Additionally, we used GIS to identify potential landscape linkages that may facilitate movement between populations and to additional areas of potential habitat.