DOI: 10.5061/dryad.p397k
title: Data from: Habitat patch use by fishers in the deciduous forest-dominated landscape of the central Appalachian Mountains, USA

description: Fishers (Pekania pennanti) are often associated with the coniferous and
 mixed forests of the northern United States and central Canada, and their
 ecology has been studied extensively in portions of their distributional
 range. Recently, natural range expansion and reintroductions have led to
 recolonization by fishers of portions of the central Appalachian
 Mountains, USA, where deciduous forest is the dominant vegetation type. We
 used noninvasive hair snare surveys and microsatellite genetic analysis to
 detect fishers in the central Appalachian Mountains of Pennsylvania, USA.
 We used these detections within an occupancy modeling framework to explore
 habitat patch use by fishers and the forest characteristics and land use
 features that influenced it. We found that the likelihood of patch use by
 fishers was related to forests with higher proportions of low-density
 residential areas. Our results also suggested lower road densities might
 be related to higher likelihood of fisher patch use. Fishers in
 Pennsylvania tolerated some forms of land development. Patch use was not
 driven by forest type or canopy cover, at least within our deciduous
 forest-dominated study areas. Future research identifying the threshold
 values at which forest cover and land development affect patch use by
 fishers in the central Appalachian Mountains will better inform management
 decisions with respect to sites for future reintroduction of fishers.
description: Code S1. Analysis code
 for program RCode S1. Analysis code
 for program R that we used to: 1) generate models of fisher (Pekania
 pennanti) detection and patch use in Pennsylvania, USA from July 2007 to
 October 2008 within an occupancy modelling framework; and 2) compare these
 models using Akaike’s information criterion.Code
 S1.docxData S2. Capture history
 and coordinates of survey cellsData S2. Capture history
 and coordinates of survey cells used to examine fisher (Pekania pennanti)
 detection and patch use in Pennsylvania, USA from July 2007 to October
 2008 within an occupancy modelling framework.Data
 S2.docxTable S1. Variance
 inflation factors and Pearson’s correlations among covariates in the
 analysis.Table S1. Variance
 inflation factors (VIF; first column) and a matrix of pairwise correlation
 coefficients (Pearson r) between forest characteristics and land-use
 covariates in modeling patch use by fishers (Pekania pennanti) across
 Pennsylvania, USA, 2007-2008. Large variance inflation factors (VIF &gt;
 4.00) and strong correlation coefficients (|r| &gt; 0.70) are in bold.
 Correlation coefficients of moderate strength (|r| &gt; 0.50) are
 italicized.Table
 S1.docxText S1. Description of
 correlations among covariatesText S1. Description of
 correlations among covariates in the analysis and other measurements of
 forest characteristics and land uses within the survey
 cells.Text
 S1.docxData S1. DNA sequences
 of fisherData S1. DNA sequence
 file of samples identified as fisher (Pekania pennanti) from hair snare
 surveys conducted in Pennsylvania, USA from July 2007 to October
 2008.PA
 Fisher_dloop Sequences.fas