Reproductive and denning ecology of the Central Georgia American black bear population

Understanding biological and ecological requirements of small populations of American black bears (Ursus americanus) is important for maintaining or promoting population growth. During 2012-2015, we studied reproductive biology, cub survival, and den selection of black bears in an isolated population in central Georgia, USA. We visited dens of 15 females and documented production of 39 cubs of the year (COY). We tracked and obtained visual observations of COY for 11 family units (19 COY) to estimate survival for a 6-month period. Cub survival for the first 6 months of life was 0.765 +/- 0.102 (mean +/- SE). We assessed effects of microhabitat and landscape characteristics on den selection. We found that early successional habitats associated with upland forests were important to denning females, presumably because of their higher elevation and availability of dense understory vegetation.