A time geographic approach for delineating areas of sustained wildlife use

1 Geographic information systems (GIS) are widely used for mapping wildlife movement 2 patterns, and observed wildlife locations are surrogates for inferring on wildlife 3 movement and habitat selection. We present a new approach to mapping areas where 4 wildlife exhibit sustained use, which we term slow movement areas (SMAs). Nested 5 within the habitat selection concepts of home range and core areas, SMAs are an 6 additional approach to identifying areas important for wildlife. Our method for 7 delineating SMAs is demonstrated on a grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) case study examining 8 road density. Our results showed that subadult females had significantly higher road 9 densities within SMAs than in their PPA home ranges. The lowest road density was 10 found in the SMAs of adult male grizzly bears. Given increased mortality risks associated 11 with roads, female encampment near roads may have negative conservation implications. 12 The methods presented in this manuscript compliment recent developments to identify 13 movement suspension and intensively exploited areas defined from wildlife telemetry 14 data. SMA delineation is sensitive to missing data and best applied to telemetry data 15 collected with a consistent resolution. 16