University of Arkansas, Fayetteville ScholarWorks@UARK Theses and Dissertations 8-2013 Ecology and Structure of Black Bear (Ursus americanus) Populations in the Interior Highlands of Arkansas Thea Vandervelde Kristensen University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd Part of the Animal Studies Commons, Population Biology Commons, and the Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Commons Recommended Citation Kristensen, Thea Vandervelde, "Ecology and Structure of Black Bear (Ursus americanus) Populations in the Interior Highlands of Arkansas" (2013). Theses and Dissertations. 838. http://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/838 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Ecology and structure of black bear (Ursus americanus) populations in the Interior Highlands of Arkansas Ecology and structure of black bear (Ursus americanus) populations in the Interior Highlands of Arkansas A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Biology By Thea V. Kristensen Eckerd College Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies and Psychology, 1999 Washington State University Masters of Science in Natural Resources, 2001 Simmons College Master of Arts in Teaching, 2004 August 2013 University of Arkansas This dissertation is approved for recommendation to the Graduate Council. ____________________________________ ____________________________________ Dr. Kimberly G. Smith Dr. Don White, Jr. Dissertation Director Committee Member ____________________________________ ____________________________________ Dr. David Krementz Dr. Steven Beaupre Committee Member Committee Member ABSTRACT In the Interior Highlands of Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma, overharvest, extensive logging, and reductions of habitat availability by other means contributed to the decline of black bears (Ursus americanus). Bears were extirpated from the majority of the region by the 1940’s Oklahoma by 1915 and from Missouri by 1931. From 1958-1968, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission undertook a reintroduction to the Ouachita and the Ozark National Forests in Arkansas. The successful growth and expansion of the released population caused these efforts to be considered one of the most successful reintroductions of carnivores. In this dissertation, I sought to examine the current population size and density of bears in the Ouachita and the Ozark National Forests in Arkansas and to explore how dispersal patterns are influenced by population expansion. Density estimates are comparable to or above previous estimates done in the late 1980’s/early 1990’s. The population appears to have maintained or exceeded previous density estimates. There was evidence for female philopatry in both source and expanding populations, with relatedness declining with distance until about 30 km. In recently expanding populations, male-male dyads followed a similar pattern to female-female dyads with relatedness decreasing with distance. Female-female dyads in expanding populations also had higher levels of closely related dyads than female-female dyads in source populations. Only in recent years have large predator reintroductions been actively pursued and the goals of restoring a functional ecosystem been approached. The genetics of reintroduction and dispersal received research attention even more recently. Dispersal and gene flow into and out of populations, a process called connectivity, fundamentally shape wildlife distribution and abundance across the landscape. Connectivity determines taxonomic distinctiveness, colonization of new sites, and persistence of both local populations and metapopulations of linked populations. With measures of connectivity in hand, we can better understand the role it plays for a particular wildlife species, and predict the consequences of changes in a human-altered landscape. ©Thea V. Kristensen All Rights Reserved ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are so many people who have contributed to my learning experience and who have helped me grow as I have completed my PhD program. It is hard to even know where to begin. I thank each and every person who has been a part of this process. Kevin Curry and my other colleagues at Bridgewater State College were a tremendous support to me as I approached the return to graduate school. Kevin introduced me to Kimberly G. Smith, one of my advisors, and continues to be a mentor to me. Each member of my committee has been important to the completion of this dissertation. Don White, Jr. served as a co-advisor with Kim and helped me in myriad ways. He welcomed me into the project he already started and gave me the freedom to contribute and offer suggestions for lines of investigation. We worked closely on optimizing study design and choice of analyses. He put me in touch with many professionals in the field and gave me the confidence to initiate new contacts and collaborations. His contributions have been so far reaching, it is difficult to describe. I thank him for all he has given me and taught me throughout this process. Kim brought me into the program, helped me establish contacts with collaborators, gave me new opportunities in teaching, and supported me throughout my degree. Steve challenged me and pushed me to do my best. David asked me incredibly useful questions, which always helped guide me towards success in design, and I will always value the insights I gained in this process. While not officially on my committee, Lori Eggert and the member of her lab were integral to the completion of my dissertation. Kaitlyn Faires was a tremendous teacher, partner in research, friend, and supporter. Mari Ruiz-Lopez was always willing to answer my questions about genetics and analyses, was incredibly understanding and caring. Sheena Fiest, Jessica Philbrick Bill Peterman, Rebecca Mowry, and Karen DeMatteo all have helped me in the lab and supported me. Emily Puckett started her PhD after Kaitlyn left and we now have the opportunity to work together on the dispersal chapter of this dissertation and the structure chapter in her dissertation. Finally, all rest of the members of the lab were so welcoming and accepted me as their own. I thank them all for giving me that gift. Bill Etges gave me the use of space in his lab and all of his graduate students welcomed me and taught me there. Giselle Almeida and Jason Desormeaux both helped me become familiar with the lab. Brenda Flack assisted me with the setup of materials, encouraged me to run my own samples, and helped me in the lab during my first year. Stephanie Huffines, at VWR, has been an incredible help with helping me figure out what materials were best for what I was doing and in making the ordering process easy. All of the undergraduates who assisted me in the lab were invaluable. Samantha Shipman, Ayla Smart, Laura Gentles, and Laura Blankenship were essential in helping me with the extraction process at the University of Arkansas. Emily Edwards also helped me with interpretation of fragment analysis for degradation samples. I thank Kevin Wood, James Whitaker, and Jeff Lawson, Dust’n Lunsford for all their work in the field, though all the crazy weather, car problems, and challenges. I also thank the members of the Smith Lab for their support. Jeff Kimmons and Jason Luscier gave me a lot of guidance and support. Maureen McClung Peebles took me to some of her study sites to help me get ready for field work. Abby Durrah started when I did and has been wonderful to talk to and share ideas with as we have progressed through our degrees. She also has been very generous in offering editorial comments on components of this dissertation. Some of David Krementz’s students and postdocs have also played an important role in this process for me. Sarah Lehnen has been a constant support and teacher for me. She is always willing to help out with whatever R, ArcGIS, or general question I have. I am immensely grateful for all that she has taught me. Doug Leasure also helped me with ArcGIS. Michelle Evans-White’s lab was also very helpful to me. She lent me space for prepping ecology labs. Brad Austin and Clay Prater, in particular, taught me about aquatic macro- invertebrates and offered advice about ecology lab. Lisette Waits and members of her lab played an important role in completion of this project. Lisette offered assistance and advice as we began multiplexing the PCRs. Carissa Stansbury was always willing to share information about genetic analyses. Conversations with Matt Mumma were what led me to use of SECR analysis for the density calculations here. Jennapher van Manen and Abby Davis Isabell were a tremendous help and support during our MARK workshop and have continued to support me well beyond then. Jennapher invited me to another workshop and is a constant help. Abby moved to Columbia, Missouri and helped me whenever I went up there to work on my genetics. Joe Clark has been a tremendous help, both in generously answering questions and in sharing all his previous work from the area. This dissertation relies on the work he had completed in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. His students, Carrie Lowe, Mike Hooker, and Jared Laufenburg have also helped immensely in talking through our work and answering questions for me. Frank van Manen and Jennapher van Manen also generously shared data and put me in touch with John Hast and John Cox so that I could include that region in the dispersal portion of this dissertation. Frank also was a tremendous help with my regional density calculations using the secr package in R. Murray Efford was incredibly patient and helpful with suggestions and guidance as I began working with the secr package. Gary White and Andre Breton both offered tremendous help with program MARK as I worked my way through those analyses.