62 



R. C. Pais, W. C. McComb, and J. Phillips 



Table 1. Habitat categories in Kentucky's Geographic Information System. 



Habitat category 



Definition 



1. Land form 



Bottomland 



Sideslope 

 Ridgetop 



2. Land use 



Agricultural 



Human-altered 



Natural vegetation 

 Young forest 



A flat surface adjacent to a stream and low-lying land 



bounded by hills or sideslopes. 



The steeply inclined portions of a plateau. 



A flat surface bounded below by sideslopes. 



Areas distinguished by geometric field patterns; areas 

 that lack activity or reflect patterns of grazing; forest 

 openings maintained specifically for wildlife. 

 Areas intensively used by humans, with most land 

 covered with structures; areas committed to residential 

 use; areas of sparse residential use such as farmsteads; 

 areas used for the sale of products and services; areas 

 of light to heavy manufacture; mines, quarries, and 

 gravel pits. 



Areas of undisturbed indigenous vegetation. 

 Regeneration of areas in which all mature trees have 

 been cut and removed, and areas of forest lands inter- 

 laced with mines. 



3. Slope gradient 



0-20%, 20-35%, 

 35-50%, >50% 



4. Vegetation 



Deciduous forest 



Disturbed sites 



The ratio between vertical rise and horizontal distance. 



All forests dominated by trees that lose their leaves at 

 the end of the frost -free season. 



Areas where human endeavor has changed the surface 

 of the earth. Usually high-use areas and areas where 

 grasses and forbs predominate. Former cropland or 

 pastureland, now grown up in shrubs, in transition 

 back to forest land. 

 Wetland Areas where the water table is at, near, or above the 



land surface for a major part of the year. 



Although the estimated precision of fixes was low, estimates of habitat 

 use ought to provide a conservative comparison with randomly assigned 

 home ranges. Error will add to among-animal variance estimates of 

 habitat features and result in a decreased probability of detecting a 

 difference. It is now apparent that we should have used Lenth's maximum 

 likelihood estimators to access precision of locations; the technique was 

 unavailable to us at the time of the study (Nams and Boutin 1991). 



