ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

 Without the support and encouragement of the following people and organizations, this

project would not have been possible. Generous funding and logistical support were provided by

Dexter Fellowship; Jennings Scholarship; University of Florida, Department of Wildlife Ecology

and Conservation; Wildlife Conservation Society, India Program. I thank the Centre for Wildlife

Studies (CWS), Bangalore, India, for providing from their database the sloth bear photographs

used in this analysis.

 I acknowledge with greatest appreciation my advisor and committee chair, Dr. Melvin

Sunquist, for leading me through my master's program and always being there to provide

encouragement, wisdom and advice. I wish to express my gratitude to Dr. Robert Dorazio, who

spent great volumes of his time in helping me analyze my data. I thank Dr. Madan Oli for giving

me important comments and advice on my drafts. I also thank Dr. Ramon Littell for his

comments. I wish to specially thank Dr. Susan Jacobson, who periodically encouraged my

progress.

 I am also grateful to my academic supervisor, Dr. K. Ullas Karanth, and field supervisor,

Mr. N. Samba Kumar, when I worked at CWS. Their skills and encouragement have enriched

my life and this thesis. I would also like to express my gratitude to all Centre for Wildlife Studies

field staff, Raghavendra Mogaroy, Narendra Patil, Anirban Datta Roy, Vivek Ramachandran,

Varun Goswami, Mathew James and Dhanapal. I wish to specially thank Kaavya Nag who

meticulously compiled the sloth bear data. I thank the Centre for Wildlife Studies administrative

staff, K. V. Phaniraj and P. Mohan Kumar, who ably provided the logistic support in this project.

 Finally, I owe my deepest gratitude to my family and friends who have encouraged me at all

times.