Florida Panther Habitat Use in Response to Prescribed Fire
Abstract
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 radiolocations, 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 <1-year-old burns because of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and other prey responses to vegetation and structural changes caused by the prescribed fires. The strong selection for stands burned…
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The 1.0 km grid size was chosen to account for telemetry error (within 124-230 m) and because of interest in analyzing panther habitat characteristics at the landscape scale.
“This grid size was chosen to account for telemetry error (within 124–230 m [4, 8, 11]) and because of our interest in analyzing panther habitat characteristics at the landscape scale.”
From Landscape Analysis of Adult Florida Panther Habitat (2015) · cites this paper as [11]
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“Other estimates of the error associated with this particular panther telemetry dataset were derived by Belden et al. (1988), Janis and Clark (2002) and Dees, Clark, and Manen (2001), whose estimates ranged from 77 to 230 m with varying degrees of confidence.”
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“…in analyses were collected in a standardized manner from fi xed-wing aircraft by FWC and National Park staff between the hours of 0600–1000, and telemetry error associated with Panther locations has been reported to range from 77–230 m (Belden et al. 1988, Dees et al. 2001, Janis and Clark 2002).”
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“그러나 계획적 불놓기는 제한되고 규정된 화재 규모를 이용하여 유해식물 및 곤충을 제거하고 야생 동물 서식지를 유지하는 데 유용한 도구로 이용되고 있다(Dees et al., 2001).”
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- Authors
- Dees, C. S., Clark, J. D., & Manen, F. T. V.
- Venue
- The Journal of Wildlife Management
- Publisher
- JSTOR
- Published
- 2001-01
- Volume
- 65
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 141
- ISSN
- 0022-541X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2090167463
- Cited by
- 59
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 2.35
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Wildlife Management (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Rangeland and Wildlife Management
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Fire effects on ecosystems
- Keywords
- Florida panther, Puma concolor coryi, prescribed burning, habitat use, white-tailed deer, prey attraction, endangered carnivore conservation, Big Cypress National Preserve, radiolocation
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