Geographic Information System for the Analysis of Cantabrian Brown Bear Habitat Quality

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A small study area (4,029 ha) was used to build a model of potential brown bear (Ursus arctos) habitat quality. In a first step, based on existing data of bear diets and the calculated coverage of food-producing plants, we established a series of food selection indices. Foods with the highest selection indices for bears included the Umbelliferae, apple (Malus sp.), bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus), and chestnut (Castanea sativa). By combining the food indices with the surface description of each environmental unit, we obtained the trophic values of each habitat. Herbaceous formations, non-oak (Quercus sp.) shrub formations and chestnut forests are the most important environmental units in the diet of the bear. The final habitat quality (obtained by calculating mean value between trophic and refuge-cover values) showed that high quality areas were scarce. Processing of GIS data allowed the extrapolation of results to the entire area of study by using trophic resource maps and details of refuge-cover and global habitat quality. This mapping was obtained for each season of the year and annually.