Free will and mental disorder: Exploring the relationship

A link between mental disorder and freedom is clearly present in the introduction of the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). It mentions “an important loss of freedom” as one of the possible defining features of mental disorder. Meanwhile, it remains unclear how “an important loss of freedom” should be understood. In order to get a clearer view on the relationship between mental disorder and (a loss of) freedom, in this article, I will explore the link between mental disorder and free will. I examine two domains in which a connection between mental disorder and free will is present: the philosophy of free will and forensic psychiatry. As it turns out, philosophers of free will frequently refer to mental disorders as conditions that compromise free will and reduce moral responsibility. In addition, in forensic psychiatry, the rationale for the assessment of criminal responsibility is often explained by referring to the fact that mental disorders can compromise free will. Yet, in both domains, it remains unclear in what way free will is compromised by mental disorders. Based on the philosophical debate, I discuss three senses of free will and explore their relevance to mental disorders. I conclude that in order to further clarify the relationship between free will and mental disorder, the accounts of people who have actually experienced the impact of a mental disorder should be included in future research

Black bear movements and habitat use relative to roads in Ocala National Forest: preliminary findings

Since 1976, the Ocala National Forest and surrounding areas have accounted for over 50 percent of all black bear roadkill in Florida. To better understand the dynamics involved with this source of mortality, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, in partnership with the Florida Department of Transportation and the United States Forest Service, began investigating the movements, habitat use, and home range dynamics of black bears relative to roads in Ocala National Forest. This paper presents the preliminary findings from the first two years of the study and focuses on the characteristics of bear crossings of State Road 40. We captured 94 bears (36F, 58M) and collected more than 3,400 locations from 77 radio-collared individuals. Radio-collared bears crossed State Road 40 a total of 324 times, with both sexes crossing at similar frequencies. Concomitant with telemetry locations, we documented 752 sets of bear tracks along a 17.7-kilometer disced transect adjacent to State Road 40. Bears crossed State Road 40 most frequently during the fall, with other peaks in spring and summer. We compared crossing sites to the available habitat adjacent to State Road 40 and documented road mortality sustained by bears since 1976. Bears crossed in young to medium aged stands of sand/pine scrub at higher frequencies than would be expected by chance. Bears crossed in mature sand/pine scrub and scrub oak stands at lower frequencies than would be expected by chance. The sites at which bears were most often struck by vehicles did not coincide with locations where bears most frequently crossed the road. There seem to be highway design features that may contribute to this phenomenon

Microhabitat features influencing habitat use by Florida black bears

Understanding fine-scale habitat needs of species and the factors influencing heterogeneous use of habitat within home range would help identify limiting resources and inform habitat management practices. This information is especially important for large mammals living in fragmented habitats where resources may be scarcer and more patchily distributed than in contiguous habitats. Using bihourly Global Position System (GPS) location data collected from 10 individuals during 2011–2014, we investigated microhabitat features of areas within home ranges that received high vs. low intensity of use by Florida black bears (Ursus americanus floridanus) in north-central, Florida. We identified areas receiving high and low levels of use by bears based on their utilization distributions estimated with the dynamic Brownian bridge movement model, and performed vegetation sampling at bear locations within high- and low-use areas. Using univariate analyses and generalized linear mixed models, we found that (1) canopy cover, visual obstruction, and hardwood density were important in defining high-use sites; (2) the probability of high use was positively associated with principal components that represented habitat closer to creeks and with high canopy and shrub cover and higher hardwood densities, likely characteristic of forested wetlands; and (3) the probability of high use was, to a lesser extent, associated with principal components that represented habitat with high canopy cover, high pine density, and low visual obstruction and hardwood density; likely representing sand pine and pine plantations. Our results indicate that the high bear-use sites were in forested wetlands, where cover and food resources for bears are likely to occur in higher abundance. Habitat management plans whereby bears are a focal species should aim to increase the availability and quality of forested wetlands. Keywords: Habitat selection, Heterogeneous habitat use, Forest management, Microhabitat, Principal components analysis, Compositional features of microhabitat, Structural features of microhabitat, Ursus americanus, Vegetation samplin