Florida Panther Habitat Use in Response to Prescribed Fire

The Florida panther (Puma concolor coryi) is one of the most endangered mammals in the world, with only 30-50 adults surviving in and around Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge and the adjacent Big Cypress National Preserve. Managers at these areas conduct annual prescribed burns in pine (Pinus...

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Veröffentlicht in:The Journal of wildlife management 2001-01, Vol.65 (1), p.141-147
Hauptverfasser: Dees, Catherine S., Clark, Joseph D., Van Manen, Frank T.
Format: Artikel
Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:The Florida panther (Puma concolor coryi) is one of the most endangered mammals in the world, with only 30-50 adults surviving in and around Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge and the adjacent Big Cypress National Preserve. Managers at these areas conduct annual prescribed burns in pine (Pinus sp.) as a cost-effective method of managing wildlife habitat. Our objectives were to determine if temporal and spatial relationships existed between prescribed fire and panther use of pine. To accomplish this, we paired fire-event data from the Refuge and the Preserve with panther radiolocations collected between 1989 and 1998, determined the time that had elapsed since burning had occurred in management units associated with the radio-locations, and generated a frequency distribution based on those times. We then generated an expected frequency distribution, based on random use relative to time since burning. This analysis revealed that panther use of burned pine habitats was greatest during the first year after a management unit was burned. Also, compositional analysis indicated that panthers were more likely to position their home ranges in areas that contained pine. We conclude that prescribed burning is important to panther ecology. We suggest that panthers were attracted to
ISSN:0022-541X
1937-2817
DOI:10.2307/3803287