Designing against habitat loss: Facilitating movement of the Louisiana black bear

Mathias, Lauren

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/108039 Copy

Description

Title

Designing against habitat loss: Facilitating movement of the Louisiana black bear

Author(s)

Mathias, Lauren

Issue Date

2020-05-13

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

O'Shea, Conor E

Committee Member(s)

• Reschke, Craig
• Duquette, Jared

Department of Study

Landscape Architecture

Discipline

Landscape Architecture

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.L.A.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• Louisiana black bear
• Ursus americanus luteolus
• habitat loss
• climate change
• wildlife design
• landscape connectivity
• cohabitation
• wildlife migration
• biodiversity

Abstract

To support the continued survival of the Louisiana black bear (Ursus americanus luteolus), and preserve and protect the greater ecological communities of the bottomland hardwood forests that it occupies, this thesis proposes a catalog of design interventions that facilitate (1) the connectivity of Louisiana black bear subpopulations, (2) climate-related migration of the subspecies, and (3) more amicable coexistence of bears and humans. In May 2019, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) released its Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, and it foretold of a grim future for wildlife worldwide. The report specifically noted human alteration of land and climate change as major factors contributing to ecosystem deterioration and biodiversity loss. This combination of factors is particularly relevant in the South-Central United States, where fertile soils have made cropland (namely soybean, corn, and cotton fields) a significant portion of the landscape, and rising temperatures and sea levels, coupled with extreme weather events, threaten to erase and further fragment any suitable habitats that do remain. The Louisiana black bear faces especially acute problems as a large mammalian predator, due to expansive spatial requirements and lack of eager reception by many humans. Its population has been reduced to around 750 and is exclusively found in four subpopulations in Louisiana, with this spatial isolation adding to the fragility of the subspecies as a whole. Though this culturally and ecologically important subspecies is no longer on the US Fish and Wildlife Service endangered species list, many believe that support and an active restructuring of landscapes is necessary to guarantee survival. As the Louisiana black bear is considered an umbrella species, conservation of it and its habitat would be beneficial to a wide array of species, including humans.

Graduation Semester

2020-05

Type of Resource

Thesis

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/108039

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2020 Lauren Mathias

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