Abstract 318 – Analyzing dispersal behavior of juvenile black bears in a recolonizing population in east-central Oklahoma to identify potential barriers to population expansion.

Jacob Humm and W. Sue Fairbanks

Immigration through dispersal is critical to population structure and recolonization success of
small black bear populations. During the transient stage of black bear dispersal, juveniles face
increased risk of predation by other species and conspecifics, higher energetic costs of travel,
and risk of mortality from human-wildlife interactions. Habitat fragmentation from
anthropogenic activities has been shown to limit bear recolonization success in populations
across North America by barring dispersal into new areas, limiting gene flow among established
populations, and increasing mortality risk among dispersing individuals. Oklahoma’s east-
central black bear population occupies a patchy, fragmented landscape characterized by
disjunct habitat patches surrounded by anthropogenic disturbance. My objectives were to 1.)
model juvenile dispersal movements through the landscape, 2.) develop predictive models of
dispersal movements, and 3.) use these data to develop resistance models of movement to
identify potential barriers to dispersal into habitat patches outside the core of the population.