HABITAT USE OF BLACK BEAR (URSUS AMERICANUS), MOOSE (ALCES ALCES), AND GRAY FOX (UROCYON CINEREOARGENTEUS) IN A HUMAN DOMINATED LANDSCAPE OF WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS

The increasing overlap of wildlife habitats and human development in Massachusetts over the past 60 years through an addition of over 2 million residents has continued to create opportunities for human-wildlife interactions. In the first chapter, I explore the broader factors influencing wildlife habitat use, establishing a foundation for the more focused analysis in the second chapter. In the second chapter, I examine habitat use by black bears (Ursus americanus), moose (Alces alces), and gray foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) across a human-dominated landscape in western Massachusetts, with a focus on identifying ecological and spatial factors influencing their distribution and occurrence at multiple spatial scales. A network of 60 camera traps was deployed in a nested grid framework with cell dimensions of 2x2 km (4 km²), 4x4 km (16 km²), and 8x8 km (64 km²). For simplicity, these scales are referred to throughout this thesis as 2km, 4km, and 8km. Species occurrence was then analyzed in relation to key environmental variables, including forest cover, habitat diversity, road density, traffic speed, and other human development. Generalized Linear Models (GLMs) and Generalized Linear Mixed Models (GLMMs) assessed the scale-dependent relationships between habitat characteristics and species presence. This study provides new insights into scale-dependent habitat use in western Massachusetts, showing that black bears and moose were less likely to occur in areas with high road density and human infrastructure, while gray foxes exhibited greater adaptability to human-modified landscapes. Additionally, findings highlight that human-modified landscapes influence species’ occurrence differently across spatial scales, emphasizing the need for tailored conservation strategies that consider both species-specific and scale-dependent responses to human disturbance.