Bear Research in Kentucky’s Central Appalachian Ecosystem
Rebekah Jensen, MS student in the Department of Forestry at the University of Kentucky, and Dr. David Maehr, are evaluating the influence of roads on black bears in Kentucky. The Kentucky black bear population is unique because it was nonexistent for about 100 years, but has re-established via natural re-colonization. The black bear was extirpated from Kentucky in the mid-1800s due to habitat loss and overhunting. As forests regenerated and conservation policies took effect, black bears began migrating back into the state, likely from West Virginia, Virginia, and Tennessee. Today, a small breeding population exists in the Cumberland Mountains along Kentucky's southeastern boundary.
Rebekah and Dr. Maehr are interested in understanding whether the black bears of Kentucky show similar road avoidance and road crossing patterns to bears in other regions of the country. Because Kentucky black bears have had to cross many barriers in the landscape (roads, development, agricultural areas) to re-colonize the eastern portion of the state, they may not be as road-shy as bears in long-term resident populations. To answer questions related to road avoidance and road crossing, Rebekah is analyzing location data retrieved from GPS collars worn by study animals. She is comparing road density within individual bear home ranges to the road density of the entire study area to see whether bears preferentially use less road-dense areas. Within each home range, she is using statistical methods to determine: 1) whether bear locations are distributed non-randomly with respect to roads of different size classes, 2) whether bears cross roads of different size classes more or less than what would be expected by random chance, and, 3) which habitat, landscape, and anthropogenic variables best account for where bears choose to cross roads. Additionally, she is examining bear road-kill data over the past 12 years, and qualitatively describing any patterns that exist in terms of values for habitat, landscape, and anthropogenic variables at these sites.
To date, Rebekah and Dr. Maehr have data sets for 14 GPS-collared bears. With the 2008 trapping season, they hope to retrieve collar data from three additional bears. Subsequently, they will have sufficient data to fully launch the analyses. Rebekah and Dr. Maehr plan to wrap up this project by April 2009.
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