Figure 1.
The study area for an analysis of cougar habitat and capacity for the Upper Great Lakes states, USA.
Probable and verified cougar locations are represented from 1 January, 2008 to 1 June, 2013.
Table 1.
Weights for attributes within variables used to model potential habitat suitability for cougars in the Upper Great Lakes states (Adapted from [26]).
Figure 2.
Cougar habitat rankings in the Upper Great Lakes region, USA.
The cougar habitat model was generated based on expert-assisted variables and weights from LaRue [20], and LaRue and Nielsen [16], [26].
Table 2.
Weights for each variable used in the calculation of potential habitat suitability for cougars in the Upper Great Lakes states (Modified from [26]).
Table 3.
Confirmations of cougars by year, 1 January, 2008 to 1 June, 2013, in Michigan and Wisconsin, USA.
Table 4.
Modelled cougar habitat values (0–100%) association with 58 cougar occurrences in Michigan and Wisconsin, USA at 4 spatial scales between 2008 and 2013.
Figure 3.
Prey densities and cougar capacity in the Upper Great Lakes region, USA.
a) Whitetail deer density estimates were based on best available information from state natural resource management agencies [48], [49]. b) Geographic variation in cougar capacity based on our most conservative potential deer biomass estimates. Deer biomass estimates were generally high enough to support >3 cougars/100 km2 across much of the study area.
Table 5.
Estimates of white-tailed deer biomass within deer management units for Michigan and Wisconsin (the Upper Great Lakes region, or UGL); estimates are based on three conceivable age/sex structures for white-tailed deer and are restricted to favorable habitat as indicated by cougar habitat model values ≥0.75.