SREL Reprint #3307

The development of a spatially explicit model to estimate radiocaesium body burdens in raccoons (Procyon lotor) for ecological risk assessment

Karen F. Gaines1,2,3, C. Shane Boring3,4, and Dwayne E. Porter1

1University of South Carolina, Norman J. Arnold School of Public Health, Columbia, SC 29208, USA
2The University of Georgia, Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Aiken, SC 29802, USA
3Consortium for Risk Evaluation with Stakeholder Participation, Environmental and Occupational
Health Sciences Institute, Piscataway, NJ, USA
4Division of Life Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, USA

Abstract: A spatially explicit model of raccoon (Procyon lotor) distribution for the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS) in west-central South Carolina was developed using data from a raccoon radio-telemetry study and visualized within a Geographic Information System (GIS). An inductive approach was employed to develop three sub-models using the ecological requirements of raccoons studied in the following habitats: (1) man-made reservoirs, (2) bottomland hardwood/riverine systems, and (3) isolated wetland systems. Logistic regression was used to derive probabilistic resource selection functions using habitat compositional data and landscape metrics. The final distribution model provides a spatially explicit probability (likelihood of being in an area) surface for male raccoons. The model is a stand-alone tool consisting of algorithms independent of the specific GIS data layers to which they were derived. The model was then used to predict contaminant burdens in raccoons inhabiting a riverine system contaminated with radiocaesium (137Cs). The predicted 137Cs burdens were less than if one would assume homogeneous use of the contaminated areas. This modelling effort provides a template for DOE managed lands and other large government facilities to establish a framework for site-specific ecological assessments that use wildlife species as endpoints.

Keywords: GIS; Raccoons (Procyon lotor); Radiocaesium; Resource selection functions; Risk assessment; Spatial modelling

SREL Reprint #3307

Gaines, K. F., C. S. Boring, and D. E. Porter. 2005. The development of a spatially explicit model to estimate radiocaesium body burdens in raccoons (Procyon lotor) for ecological risk assessment. Science of the Total Environment 341(2005): 15-31.

This information was provided by the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (srel.uga.edu).