Estimating Bobcat and Canada Lynx Distributions in British Columbia

Understanding the distribution of a species is useful before undertaking management and conservation actions. Distribution estimates provide ecological insights about a species, and help frame the scope and scale of research questions. However, compiling reliable distribution information is a challe...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of wildlife management 2018-05, Vol.82 (4), p.810-820
Main Authors: GOOLIAFF, TJ, WEIR, RICHARD D., HODGES, KAREN E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
bobcat
British Columbia
Canada lynx
citizen science
Data sources
Estimation
geographic range
Hunting
Lynx canadensis
Lynx rufus
Population Ecology
Species
species distribution
Uniqueness
Wildlife
Wildlife management
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Understanding the distribution of a species is useful before undertaking management and conservation actions. Distribution estimates provide ecological insights about a species, and help frame the scope and scale of research questions. However, compiling reliable distribution information is a challenge for elusive mesocarnivores such as bobcats (Lynx rufus) and Canada lynx (L. canadensis). In British Columbia, Canada, bobcats and lynx are key mesocarnivores ecologically and are important furbearers, but their distributions are poorly understood. We compiled and compared 5 independent sources of bobcat and lynx records in British Columbia to gain a better understanding of their provincial distributions: trapping records, hunting records, vehicle-kill records, trapper surveys, and images solicited from the public. Our objectives were to compare bobcat and lynx distributions derived from each of these data sources, and provide reliable estimates for the distribution of each species in British Columbia between 2008 and 2017. Although each method has unique advantages and limitations, all data sources indicated similar distributions, and each data source provided unique locations for the final distribution maps that we derived. Bobcats were restricted to the southern half of British Columbia, whereas lynx occurred across most of the interior of the province. Bobcat and lynx distributions broadly overlapped in southern British Columbia, but image detections generally occurred at higher elevations for lynx than bobcats. We demonstrate the utility of combining multiple data sources when estimating species distributions, and highlight the usefulness of citizen science in such studies.
ISSN:0022-541X
1937-2817
DOI:10.1002/jwmg.21437