Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 3.1
Location estimates for adult female bear 61 in studied in 1983, 1984, and 1985 in
the Pisgah Bear Sanctuary, North Carolina, U.S.A. Note that in each year, bear 61's locations were
confined to a distinct area and that the area did not change much over the course of 3 years. This
bear showed site fidelity, even though her location data did not conform to the rules of site fidelity
for Swihart and Slade's (1985a, 1985b) model. The lightly dotted black line marks the study area
border.
be quantified, practically, as an instantaneous concept because the home range
can only be deduced from locations of an animal within its home range and
the locations occur sequentially (but see Doncaster and Macdonald 1991).
Thus, for most approaches, a home range must be defined for a specific
time interval (e.g., a season, a year, or possibly a lifetime). The longer the in-
terval, the more data can be used to quantify the home range, but the more
likely that the animal has changed its cognitive map since the first data were
collected.
In addition, no standard exists as to whether one should include in an ani-
mal's home range areas that the animal seldom visits or never visits after initial
exploration. Many researchers define home ranges operationally to include
only areas of use. Nonetheless, animals may be familiar with areas that they do
