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Spatial Distribution of Black Bear Incident Reports in Michigan

Interactions between humans and carnivores have existed for centuries due to competition for food and space. American black bears are increasing in abundance and populations are expanding geographically in many portions of its range, including areas that are also increasing in human density, often r...

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Autores principales: McFadden-Hiller, Jamie E., Beyer, Dean E., Belant, Jerrold L.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4847767/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27119344
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0154474
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author McFadden-Hiller, Jamie E.
Beyer, Dean E.
Belant, Jerrold L.
author_facet McFadden-Hiller, Jamie E.
Beyer, Dean E.
Belant, Jerrold L.
author_sort McFadden-Hiller, Jamie E.
collection PubMed
description Interactions between humans and carnivores have existed for centuries due to competition for food and space. American black bears are increasing in abundance and populations are expanding geographically in many portions of its range, including areas that are also increasing in human density, often resulting in associated increases in human-bear conflict (hereafter, bear incidents). We used public reports of bear incidents in Michigan, USA, from 2003–2011 to assess the relative contributions of ecological and anthropogenic variables in explaining the spatial distribution of bear incidents and estimated the potential risk of bear incidents. We used weighted Normalized Difference Vegetation Index mean as an index of primary productivity, region (i.e., Upper Peninsula or Lower Peninsula), primary and secondary road densities, and percentage land cover type within 6.5-km(2) circular buffers around bear incidents and random points. We developed 22 a priori models and used generalized linear models and Akaike’s Information Criterion (AIC) to rank models. The global model was the best compromise between model complexity and model fit (w = 0.99), with a ΔAIC 8.99 units from the second best performing model. We found that as deciduous forest cover increased, the probability of bear incident occurrence increased. Among the measured anthropogenic variables, cultivated crops and primary roads were the most important in our AIC-best model and were both positively related to the probability of bear incident occurrence. The spatial distribution of relative bear incident risk varied markedly throughout Michigan. Forest cover fragmented with agriculture and other anthropogenic activities presents an environment that likely facilitates bear incidents. Our map can help wildlife managers identify areas of bear incident occurrence, which in turn can be used to help develop strategies aimed at reducing incidents. Researchers and wildlife managers can use similar mapping techniques to assess locations of specific conflict types or to address human impacts on endangered species.
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spelling pubmed-48477672016-05-07 Spatial Distribution of Black Bear Incident Reports in Michigan McFadden-Hiller, Jamie E. Beyer, Dean E. Belant, Jerrold L. PLoS One Research Article Interactions between humans and carnivores have existed for centuries due to competition for food and space. American black bears are increasing in abundance and populations are expanding geographically in many portions of its range, including areas that are also increasing in human density, often resulting in associated increases in human-bear conflict (hereafter, bear incidents). We used public reports of bear incidents in Michigan, USA, from 2003–2011 to assess the relative contributions of ecological and anthropogenic variables in explaining the spatial distribution of bear incidents and estimated the potential risk of bear incidents. We used weighted Normalized Difference Vegetation Index mean as an index of primary productivity, region (i.e., Upper Peninsula or Lower Peninsula), primary and secondary road densities, and percentage land cover type within 6.5-km(2) circular buffers around bear incidents and random points. We developed 22 a priori models and used generalized linear models and Akaike’s Information Criterion (AIC) to rank models. The global model was the best compromise between model complexity and model fit (w = 0.99), with a ΔAIC 8.99 units from the second best performing model. We found that as deciduous forest cover increased, the probability of bear incident occurrence increased. Among the measured anthropogenic variables, cultivated crops and primary roads were the most important in our AIC-best model and were both positively related to the probability of bear incident occurrence. The spatial distribution of relative bear incident risk varied markedly throughout Michigan. Forest cover fragmented with agriculture and other anthropogenic activities presents an environment that likely facilitates bear incidents. Our map can help wildlife managers identify areas of bear incident occurrence, which in turn can be used to help develop strategies aimed at reducing incidents. Researchers and wildlife managers can use similar mapping techniques to assess locations of specific conflict types or to address human impacts on endangered species. Public Library of Science 2016-04-27 /pmc/articles/PMC4847767/ /pubmed/27119344 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0154474 Text en https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) public domain dedication.
spellingShingle Research Article
McFadden-Hiller, Jamie E.
Beyer, Dean E.
Belant, Jerrold L.
Spatial Distribution of Black Bear Incident Reports in Michigan
title Spatial Distribution of Black Bear Incident Reports in Michigan
title_full Spatial Distribution of Black Bear Incident Reports in Michigan
title_fullStr Spatial Distribution of Black Bear Incident Reports in Michigan
title_full_unstemmed Spatial Distribution of Black Bear Incident Reports in Michigan
title_short Spatial Distribution of Black Bear Incident Reports in Michigan
title_sort spatial distribution of black bear incident reports in michigan
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4847767/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27119344
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0154474
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