Animal response to anthropogenic features may be fine scale (e.g. changes in movement behavior) or large scale (e.g. landscape fragmentation). I collected locational data on 24 radio-instrumented grizzly bears in Northwest Montana. I used first order vector-based methods to examine grizzly bear movement and resting patterns around open forest roads and rural structures. I attribute grizzly bear locations with environmental and developmental variables and used logistic regression to model grizzly bear habitat selection. To evaluate local attitudes toward living with wildlife, I developed a mail-based survey to assess baseline resident attitude toward living with wildlife with emphasis to grizzly bears.
Movement analysis suggested bears moved at higher velocities and rested less frequently in habitat adjacent to roads and structures. However, bears moved with greater sinuosity in habitats surrounding roads and we detected little difference in resting intervals proximate to roads and structures. Our top habitat selection models indicated good predictive performance. Human development features such as roads and structures had little influence over female or male habitat selection at the study area scale. Where grizzly habitat and human activity overlap, we recommend managers carefully consider access management and development to minimize mortality risk for grizzly bears. Survey respondents reported that their information on wildlife was mainly drawn from personal experience and respondent attitudes were generally favorable toward living with bears. Survey responses were most divided on tolerance of dangerous animals near places where people lived. Based on attitudes toward wildlife in the Seeley-Swan the most productive approach would be small scale projects that incorporate person to person collaboration to create local solutions for decreasing human-bear conflicts.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MONTANA/oai:etd.lib.umt.edu:etd-08192014-220039 |
| Date | 24 October 2014 |
| Creators | Ruby, Mark |
| Contributors | Dr. Chris Servheen, Dr. Brian Steele, Dr. Richard Mace |
| Publisher | The University of Montana |
| Source Sets | University of Montana Missoula |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lib.umt.edu/theses/available/etd-08192014-220039/ |
| Rights | restricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Montana or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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