Predicting the distribution of Eurasian badger (Meles meles) setts over anurbanized landscape: A GIS approach

The distribution of the Eurasian badger within an urbanized county (Greater Manchester, United Kingdom) was investigated through the development of a predictive model. Badger main sett distribution was taken as a surrogate of badger social group distribution, with the recognition of the importance o f main setts as a limiting resource for badger distribution. The model util ized a range of environmental data layers within a GIS (land cover, soil, s lope, and elevation). The data were transformed using principal components analysis to produce a reduced set of uncorrelated, normally distributed env ironmental variables. Predictive discriminant analysis was used to construc t the model by discriminating main sett sample sites from random non-sett s ites. The model classified over 80 percent of sites correctly and was valid ated using external analysis. A visual representation of the model was prod uced through interpolating within a GIS a discriminant surface from the dis criminant scores of the model.