Editing American black bear (section)

== Habitat ==
Throughout their range, habitats preferred by American black bears have a few shared characteristics. They are often found in areas with relatively inaccessible terrain, thick understory vegetation and large quantities of edible material (especially [[Mast (botany)|masts]]). The adaptation to woodlands and thick vegetation in this species may have originally been because the bear evolved alongside larger, more aggressive bear species, such as the extinct giant short-faced bear and the grizzly bear, that monopolized more open habitats<ref name="Lariviere">{{cite journal |author=Lariviere, S. |year=2001 |title=''Ursus americanus'' |journal=Mammalian Species |issue=647 |pages=1–11 |url=http://www.science.smith.edu/departments/Biology/VHAYSSEN/msi/default.html |doi=10.1644/1545-1410(2001)647<0001:UA>2.0.CO;2 |s2cid=198968922 |access-date=December 17, 2012 |archive-date=September 15, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130915093329/http://www.science.smith.edu/departments/Biology/VHAYSSEN/msi/default.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and the historic presence of larger predators, such as ''[[Smilodon]]'' and the [[American lion]], that could have preyed on black bears. Although found in the largest numbers in wild, undisturbed areas and rural regions, American black bears can adapt to surviving in some numbers in [[Peri-urbanisation|peri-urban]] regions, as long as they contain easily accessible foods and some vegetative coverage.<ref name="Hunter" />{{page needed|date=May 2020}}

In most of the contiguous United States, American black bears today are usually found in heavily vegetated mountainous areas, from {{convert|400|to|3000|m|ft|abbr=on}} in elevation. For American black bears living in the [[Southwestern United States|American Southwest]] and Mexico, habitat usually consists of stands of [[chaparral]] and [[Pinyon-juniper woodland|pinyon juniper woods]]. In this region, bears occasionally move to more open areas to feed on [[Opuntia|prickly pear cactus]]. At least two distinct, prime habitat types are inhabited in the [[Southeastern United States]]. American black bears in the southern [[Appalachian Mountains]] survive in predominantly [[oak–hickory forest|oak-hickory]] and mixed [[Mesophyte|mesophytic]] forests. In the coastal areas of the southeast (such as [[Florida]], [[the Carolinas]] and [[Louisiana]]), bears inhabit a mixture of [[flatwoods]], [[bay]]s and swampy hardwood sites.

In the northeastern part of the range (the United States and Canada), prime habitat consists of a forest canopy of [[hardwood]]s such as [[beech]], [[maple]], [[birch]] and [[conifer]]ous species. [[Maize|Corn]] crops and oak-hickory mast are also common sources of food in some sections of the northeast; small, thick swampy areas provide excellent refuge cover largely in stands of [[Thuja occidentalis|white cedar]]. Along the Pacific coast, [[redwood]], [[Picea sitchensis|Sitka spruce]] and [[Tsuga|hemlock]]s predominate as overstory cover. Within these northern forest types are early successional areas important for American black bears, such as fields of brush, wet and dry [[meadow]]s, high [[tideland]]s, [[Riparian zone|riparian area]]s and a variety of mast-producing hardwood species. The [[Spruce|spruce-fir]] forest dominates much of the range of the American black bear in the [[Rocky Mountains|Rockies]]. Important non-forested areas here are wet meadows, riparian areas, avalanche chutes, roadsides, burns, sidehill parks and [[montane ecosystems|subalpine ridgetops]].

In areas where human development is relatively low, such as stretches of Canada and Alaska, American black bears tend to be found more regularly in lowland regions.<ref name="Lariviere" /> In parts of northeastern Canada, especially [[Labrador]], American black bears have adapted exclusively to semi-open areas that are more typical habitat in North America for brown bears (likely due to the absence there of brown and polar bears, as well as other large carnivore species).<ref name="Hunter" />{{page needed|date=May 2020}}