Forest Management and Female Black Bear Denning

Most habitats available to black bear (Ursus americanus) in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley (MAV) consist of seasonally flooded commercial forests where lack of suitable dens may limit population growth. We studied interactions between forest management and flooding relative to female black bear den...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of wildlife management 2001-01, Vol.65 (1), p.34-40
Main Authors: White, Thomas H., Bowman, Jacob L., Jacobson, Harry A., Leopold, Bruce D., Smith, Winston P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Applied ecology
Biological and medical sciences
Black bears
Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife
Forest ecology
Forest habitats
Forest management
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Parks, reserves, wildlife conservation. Endangered species: population survey and restocking
Topographical elevation
Trees
Ursus americanus
USA
Wetland ecology
Wildlife ecology
Wildlife management
Wildlife refuges
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Most habitats available to black bear (Ursus americanus) in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley (MAV) consist of seasonally flooded commercial forests where lack of suitable dens may limit population growth. We studied interactions between forest management and flooding relative to female black bear denning. Denning behavior differed between commercial and noncommercial forests. Females used tree dens exclusively on noncommercial forests, whereas on commercial forests, most (83%) were ground dens. Variations in ground den elevation resulted in differing inundation probabilities, altering survival probabilities for neonates. On commercial forests, ground dens with similar inundation probabilities as tree dens allowed successful reproduction to occur. Management practices that enhance suitable cover in areas of minimal inundation probability may mitigate for lack of den trees in flood-prone landscapes.
ISSN:0022-541X
1937-2817
DOI:10.2307/3803274