Patterns of habitat utilization and resource selection in wildlife populations have received increasing attention in recent years as Global Positioning System (GPS) technology has improved the accuracy, precision, and ease with which study animals can be tracked and monitored. These patterns inform our understanding of the biological requirements and behavioral decisions made by individuals, and ultimately assist ecologists in managing and conserving wildlife populations. This information is especially useful in understanding the dynamics of infectious diseases like chronic wasting disease (CWD) in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), where landscapes that are attractive to animals based upon optimization of forage and predator avoidance, as well as social behaviors that increase aggregations between infected and susceptible animals may significantly influence disease spread within and between populations. We analyzed data from 71 GPS collars deployed on white-tailed deer in two areas of central New York to identify and evaluate the behavioral and spatial parameters associated with patterns of habitat utilization and resource selection. We used kernel density estimation to identify multiple core areas (50% and 95% volume contours) across sex and age classes and evaluated the influence of landscape configuration on home range size.  Additionally, we developed conditional logistic regression models to illustrate habitat use versus availability among study animals.

Results/Conclusions

Our results indicate that home range size is negatively correlated with fragmentation intensity such that animals utilize more space in landscapes where patch types are more aggregated, more evenly distributed, more proportionally diverse, and contain low patch richness.  In addition, selection for specific landscape attributes (land cover types, distance to roads, elevation, slope) is influenced seasonally by sex.   These data provide the first of several fine-scale estimates of the factors that are likely to contribute to space use of animals, and ultimately to our understanding of the manner in which infectious diseases spread across the landscape.